I grew up in a poor neighborhood where bully’s were all to common.I only lived 1 mile away from my elementary school, but it seem like 5 miles since I had to walk to and from school through a gang infested area.
At school I was that kid that sat in the back trying to draw as little attention as possible.At recesses and lunch I always walked around campus minding my own business just taking a day at a time. I never looked for trouble , but trouble seem to follow me.
I was an easy target you could say; bully’s would vent their rage and frustration on me since I had no clue on how to defend myself.I never learned how to respond to threat of assault, nevertheless beat up an assailant. I was in no physical condition to defend myself. I was as skinny and as short as they came all through my elementary school.
I needed to learn how to cope with bully’s because I refused to play the part of easy willing victim. My parents send me to a self-defense class at a local park as their final desperate measure.
I thanked my parents for their involvement in taking my cry for help seriously.
So here’s what I learned………
I learned the 3 kinds of responses
1.Passive response: the feeling of powerlessness, submissive, and hopeless
an example of such behavior is ” I’m a victim-do as you please; I won’t resist”
2.Aggressive response: the feeling of overpowering counter violence.Behavior “I have power over you-I have more power than you.”
3.Assertive response: I will not be your victim, “I don’t need to power over you. I make my own choices.”
I continued to learn the fundamentals of Self Defense by applying certain techniques that I went on to apply quickly.I was taught how to self defense with an anxiety- reducing approach which helped me focus on my opponent and effectively defend myself.
I’m no longer a Child and those Elementary years are long gone. Now I give back to the community by providing Adults with tips and resources to protect themselves from thieves and crooks so they can be well educated when it comes to those types of emergencies.
