Crime Prevention Tip – That “Uh Oh” Feeling
During workshops and discussions on preventing victimization, I always emphasized the importance of listening to that “uh oh” feeling in your gut, mind, or anywhere else it presents itself to you. This is the feeling you get when you walk out of store and you see that man over there casually leaning against that brick wall. You say to yourself “Gee, should I ignore him or should I fear him.” Often times, we may say to ourselves “Oh, don’t be a ninny – always being paranoid that someone is out to get you.” And we proceed to our car. This is an all to true scenario, and it did lead to an assault. Even if 99% of the time it never leads to anything, do you want to be the 1%. I don’t think so.
This “uh, oh” feeling is that feeling you get when you get to a stop light and see a group of men loitering on the corner. What do I do now??? Or you don’t like that the ATM is on the side of the building away from anyone’s view. Are you putting yourself in jeopardy – uh, oh! The apartment you are looking to rent causes you to walk through outside walkways that are not visible to the street – Oh, my, could someone be lurking — how silly! NOT!
Each of these are real, serious occurrences – not fiction. And each is a disaster waiting to happen to an unfortunate person who may not have paid any attention to the signal that was very real and very present in the gut, chest, head.
I don’t want you, the reader of this blog, to EVER put yourself in such a position as to jeoparidize your safety – no matter how silly you feel as you take steps to minimize the potential danger – like going to the manager of the store to walk you or watch you go to your car, or asking for an apartment with a front door visible from the street, or pass the poorly located ATM machine for one that is plainly visible in a busy area.
None of these precautions is silly or indicative of paranoia. They are very simply SMART!
So you can imagine how I felt when a good and important friend said that he finally will pay attention to his gut. I was thrilled to hear it. It only took a mugging to change his mind –a very close call, actually. He felt uncomfortable when he turned onto the street but ignored his body’s own message. Luckily he was only minimally injured but that was because he was larger and stronger than his assailant and the mugger had no weapon. Ironically, he had taken other precautions, such as putting a small amount of money in a pocket should anyone threaten him for money. But now, he told me that he will definitely pay attention to his “Uh oh” feeling in the future–and I am so relieved he will.
And I hope you will too. For more information on this “sixth sense,” please visit www.WPSN.net and read The Gift of Fear by Gavin De Becker, an excellent book on how the gut feeling can save your life.
