“Fight Like A Girl And Other Lessons From A Stabbing”

I sat down to share my thoughts on this article and to restate what I have said many times on this blog, but then my daughter came in and asked me if we could cook dinner together and then my son wanted to read a book and then I wanted to sit with my husband and then my teenager needed to be picked up from work and then I thought, what more needs to be added…nothing really.

I urge you to read this post by Lima called Fight Like A Girl And Other Lessons From A stabbing.

I will add one thing. When I began carrying a gun and taking my safety seriously I felt such guilt and shame that I internalized every cliché from every gun blog out there. I changed my shoes, jewelry, clothes, make up, and Code Yellow became my only mission. Much of it was good advice and solid, but not all of it was and not all of it needed to be applied to my life. I felt overwhelmed much of the time and in the process lost much of who I was. That was my issue. I was on a journey (still am) and during that time many of my emotions and choices were made out of fear or not wanting to be afraid or guilt or many things that were not necessarily good decision making tools.

Eventually, I figured out what I could live with and what risks were reasonable for me to take. While I agree with every single word Lima wrote in her post and while some would say I take things to extreme because I do focus seriously on all aspects of defense (hand-to-hand, knife, gun, mindset, medical, fitness) and while I absolutely love my friendly bruise comparing contests with Lima, I also believe this journey is a process and if one is just starting out, I want to say it is OK to take steps. It is OK to say I don’t want to do this or that. It is YOUR defense. The first step is to think. Honestly make conscious choices. You may say I am not going to do such and such and I understand the possible consequences to that, but I am willing to accept those in order to live the quality of life I want to live. Fine, but make the choice, do not stick your head in the sand and hope it all works out for the best.

For example, I rarely carry an extra magazine. I fully understand the risk of that and I believe it is a risk. Guns jam, magazines fail, on and on, but for me and my life, I have, at this point, accepted that. However, I did the research, I tried it, I thought about it, I read, I made a conscious choice, so at the end of the day it was a choice and one I will hopefully be able to live with.

If you do nothing else, read the article and take time to think about the different aspects discussed and then continue to think, read, research, and consider adding a little something more to your plan in at least one area.