Sometimes I forget how unusual it is to be traveling the globe on my own. It seems normal to me; I’m just living my life. Often hidden in the back of my mind is the knowledge that I spent my adolescence doing Tae Kwon Do and that I have a second degree black belt. I haven’t trained in awhile but the patterns and defense sequences are in my muscle memory. They are something I’ll never forget.
When I hop off the plane into a city that the media tries to villainize, I’m not immediately thinking, “I’ll be fine, I’m a black belt.” However, the knowledge that I can defend myself does give me a certain confidence. Perhaps I’ve been safe throughout my travels because I walk without fear and people can sense that. It could also be because of my Only Good Vibes motto and thanks to the law of attraction. Whatever it is, I’m eternally thankful for my good fortune and also to my dad for driving me to Tae Kwon Do class as I was growing up.
My point is not that you should only travel if you have done martial arts, but that you should definitely take a self-defense class before putting yourself up against the world. Self-defense is so ingrained in me that until a recent conversation with my sister, I didn’t realize that some people don’t know how to throw a punch or how to execute an elbow strike. If you know how to throw a punch, how to get out of a bear hold, proper techniques for kicks, and weak points on men that you can use to your advantage, you will feel loads better when you find yourself in an unfamiliar situation.
I’ve never had to use my years of training and strangely enough that’s probably precisely because I am prepared. It’s like how a burglar is less likely to rob a house with a security camera. If you have no idea how to defend yourself, your insecurity will shine through and you will be a sitting duck for people with malicious intentions.
Chronicles of a Wandering Soul 