Walking Safety Done Right!

Imagine being a 68-year-old woman out for your morning exercise walk by yourself, when suddenly you become aware that a man is following you. A man that is clearly up to no good.

This happened. It's scary. It could have happened anywhere to anyone.

Here's how she handled this situation. And came through unharmed.

The 68-year-old woman loves to walk for exercise. Most every morning. She's done so for years.

She walks at a public school track. Sometimes there are people on the track. Sometimes not.

One morning, to "get some extra steps", she walked across the street from the school to a small strip mall with a grocery store.

As she was walking in the parking lot of the strip mall, she noticed a man who seemed to be talking to himself and a bit disheveled. 

Suddenly he looked at her,  and immediate started walking  towards her. He was talking out loud to himself even more. And now his eyes were fixed on her.

As she moved across the parking lot.

He moved across the parking lot.

Whatever direction she turned in the parking lot, he turned.

There was no doubt that he was following her.

She decided to head into the grocery store to try to lose him.

He entered the grocery store, and did a sweep around the perimeter of the store. Looking down each aisle of the store. FOR HER.

She approached the store manager, and as she did so, the man stopped going through the store, and watched her speaking to the manager. 

The woman called her husband, who drove to the store and picked her.

The store manager approached the man. He became belligerent. The store manager called the police, and do to something the man did, he was arrested.

What was the man up to? No one knows. But it was not good.

The woman used situational awareness just right. And thanks to that. She stayed safe.

• She became aware of the man BEFORE he could get close enough to harm her giving her the chance to evade him.
• She TRUSTED her instinct when it signaled to her that the man was a threat to her safety.
• She went into the store where there were other people.
• And when it became clear that he was continuing to stalk her in the store she approached the manager, creating a safe place for her to be.
• From that safe space she called her husband who was able to meet her and pick her up.

SITUATIONAL AWARENESS is the SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT component of personal safety. It allows you to keep yourself safe while doing what you love to do. Download my FREE guide to applying situational awareness in a variety of different settings.