You know, in light of that ask..
I have done a few things in my day. I’ve driven, alone, on multiple 900+ mile trips. I drove to New Orleans, alone. I drove to Houston, alone. On both trips I got hotel rooms midway there, alone, both ways.
I have walked around major cities from Chicago to New Orleans to Washington to Houston to Orlando…alone.
I have climbed mountains in Colorado. I have gone on special assignments for work that involved me going to large cities alone, getting to and checking into the motel the company rented for me, and generally functioning alone in an unfamiliar city for a few days, PLUS guarding an unfamiliar site.
And when I mention these trips to people, the most common response I get is “Weren’t you afraid?”
And…no? I never felt afraid or threatened during any of these trips. Just use some common sense and enjoy the ride on this great wheel of life.
Basically, the thing to remember is that rather than picturing other people as a great faceless mask of People Out To Get Me, realize that, by and large, people don’t give a shit about you and are completely uninterested. To them, you’re just another face in a thousand faces they see that day.
They’ve got their own shit going on. Their own problems, their own distractions, their own lives. And a lot of them are pretty nice actually if you talk to them.
Also, knowing you can kill them with your pen if you need to is a great confidence booster. .
Now THIS…this is tea. Healthy tea. It’s travel that cures that sort of mindset in the first place.
Most blest is he who lives free and bold
and nurses never a grief,
for the fearful man is dismayed by aught
,
and the mean one mourns over giving.
The words of Odin, line 48 of the Havamal.
(aught means ‘anything at all’, incidentally)
Whenever I get even slightly nervous about walking alone, I just remember the time when I participated in a school group activity and owned a guy twice my size in a sparring match sixteen times.
We were paired up I, a thirteen year old girl at that time, got paired with a seventeen year old lanky giant of a teenage boy. Teach says that may be a bit unfair but thirteen year old me was just as much of a determined little shit as I am now and I was Fired Up and point-blank refused to change opponent.
Teach kinda shrugs and decides to let me get knocked onto my ass a few times to teach me when to pick my battles or some shit and starts explaining the Rules. One, No Biting. Two, No Kicking. Three, No Grabbing. Four, basically do nothing that amounts to actual fighting. Five, to win a round you must push your opponent off of your assigned gym mat. Just push them. Nothing more.
Now, normally I’d be in trouble. The dude had two feet and probably 90 pounds on lill’ thirteen-year-old-me. But there was one minor thing on my side: 4+ years of weekly karate lessons and a burning desire to Fuck Shit Up.
So the minute Teach says to get ready I sink into the fighting stance my Sensei drilled into me that would basically guarantee I couldn’t be pushed over from almost any angle and as soon as Teach gives the signal to start lill’ me decided to take Sensei’s number one rule to heart and not underestimate my opponent, which results in me nearly fucking headbutting the poor dude at full force and just keeling him straight off the mat in three seconds flat.
Teach and Giant Dude are both stunned and so was lill’ me, I was prepared to put up a massive fight but lose and instead David beat Goliath in one go. Teach snaps out of her stunned daze and asks us what we’re waiting for? Go another round as often as necessary until I tell everyone to stop.
Giant Dude climbs back onto the mat, we start again, and this time Giant Dude is prepared and puts up more of a fight! (Sorta, he’s a bored teenager going through his emo phase, cut him some slack) He lasts eight seconds.
Again.
Five seconds.
Again.
Nine seconds.
Again.
Six seconds.
And again and again and again until we’ve gone sixteen rounds before the teacher just told us to stop and go sit on the benches. Giant Dude had stopped really trying after the sixth or eighth round and to be honest, so had I.
I learned two things that day. One, flooring a dude twice your size multiple times really boosts your ego. Two, if thirteen year old me could beat a dude twice my size with just pushing, full grown me can beat a dude my own size with kicking, biting (human bites can cause mad infections, our mouths are basically bio-weapons), scratching and a well-timed elbow to the face/stomach/crotch/temple.
C’mon Americans, if my ass can do it, your ass can do it.
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