SWAT Magazine, March 2004. Page 28 - 32
THE WILLINGNESS TO ACT
By Jeff Gonzales
Have you made a commitment to saving your own life and then living with the consequences? Sounds a bit strange, but have you actually taken the time to give this some profound thought? The willingness to save your own life starts by acknowledging you are willing. If you are not willing to act on your own behalf, then who will? From there it gets a little more complicated. For example, nobody has the right to do you physical harm, but if they cross that threshold what are you willing to do to preserve your life? How far are you willing to go? The obvious answer is one hundred percent. Once that line is crossed, there are only your rules. Your willingness to act is defined by your Personal Protection Directives, positive attitude and how you manage fear.
For our purpose, willingness can be summed up with being focused. In the face of adversity, focus on getting the job done - and that job is saving your own life. To help streamline the focus you need to establish some boundaries. You need to realize that you absolutely will not give up your personal safety. From there it gets a little easier, but you still have to ask yourself what maximum level of force you are willing to perform. To help solidify your willingness, make the effort to obtain training that reflects your willingness. Don't waste your time if you are not committed or it conflicts with your resolutions. In addition, spend some time asking some difficult questions of yourself and about your skill level. Imagine finding yourself in a lethal confrontation, one that clearly calls for the use of lethal force, but in the fractions of a second an opportunity presents itself you start to question your actions and capabilities. Obviously, those fractions of a second would be the absolute worst time to be considering these very important matters, so address the issue now.
What you will have to do is design your own directives - your Personal Protection Directives. In essence these directives give you permission to protect yourself and loved ones. What they entail are those difficult questions, like "Am I willing to take another human's life in the process of protecting my own?" and "Am I willing to live with my actions?" by probing into your psyche you determine your capabilities and limitations for high stress lethal encounters. Some of the answers may not be to your liking, but of importance is your discovery of them in advance. If you find some answers you weren't expecting it doesn't mean you are defenseless, it means you need to research other means or directions and then train for them. When you start looking at the end result it identifies the possible outcomes, both good and bad, but more importantly defines your focus or your goal. Ultimately you are establishing your own set of rules that govern your personal safety.
Attitude makes up an equally important component to this equation. You can sum up the right attitude for self-defense capability with confidence in your own ability; belief in your training and knowlege of the right to self-defense. A strong positive attitude can be a deterrent in itself, but also has a powerful impact in your performance. If you have confidence in your own ability the tendency to hesitate is often lifted, your ability to execute in a timely manner is increased and the level to which you perform the said skill is enhanced. A belief in your training reinforces your confidence. It simply states you believe your training technique is effective enough to work. Without this belief, indecision and self-doubt can sometimes creep into the situation. The final component is knowledge that it is OK to protect yourself or your family from great bodily harm or worse. Once your acknowledge it is not OK to be hurt or the victim of a violent situation your attitude turns from one of uncertainty to control. Rest assured a person who has solid skill, quality training and a positive attitude will, under most circumstances, be more than willing to adequately defend themselves. A sometimes difficult obstacle to overcome is not your willingness or attitude, but fear. For some, the fear of being injured can be paralyzing and self-defeating. So can the fear of prosecution. As for this intimately know the laws of your state regarding self-defense. Fear of injury is not limited to onself, but also causing injury to others. While these may seem like noble intentions, they more often then not lead to more injury. Do not dwell on being injured or causing injury to an attacker. the harsh reality is you are likely to be injured, but at least you can control the level of injury by protecting yourself. Consider the alternative that if you did nothing to protect yourself in the hopes of receiving civilized treatment or tapping into some humanitarian need from the perpetrator. Did it ever occur to you that once you relinquish control for your own safety there are no guarantees as to what may happen? The shallow hope of kind treatment during a violent encounter is nothing more than misguided perceptions. Admit you might get hurt, but you will continue to defend yourself at all cost until you are safe. In other words, admit you are afraid and move on. This is the first step towards managing your anxiety as opposed to your anxiety controlling you.
It should be clear by now that it is important to establish your Personal Protection Directives in advance of violent encounter. Resolve any issues that may present an obstacle to your own self-defense so you can affect a successful response. It is more than appropriate to address these issues at present and in so doing you streamline your directed responses. When you have identified what you are willing to do, obtaining quality supportive training is the next step. Your focused willingness, positive attitude and fear management define your own rules for self-defense. It is up to you to protect yourself - refuse to lose.
