Women's Safety Information

Greetings everyone, this is your Minister of Defense, Xavier Smith, with a note on safety. This is more specifically for women who happen to travel either for work or pleasure. In my line of work, I come across many people with varied thoughts and habits related to personal safety, and I have to say that I am both surprised and alarmed by what I have witnessed. I recently had a conversation with someone who I am now comfortable calling my friend; the Divine Miss White, also known as Cathrine White. Talk about an empowered woman! She is empowerment personified, and if every woman had the passion, will, and mind set that she possesses, I am afraid there would be no need for what I do as a self defense instructor.

The subject of our conversation was safety for women while traveling. I was honored when Miss White asked me to give my thought as the authority on this matter. I mentioned earlier that Cathrine is the embodiment of empowerment. What I did not mention, is all that she has gone through to get to where she is today. It is my goal to share some information with you to be filed in your “mental toolbox” so that you do not have to go through some of the things that Miss White and many other women have gone through. The fortunate fact is, Miss White is still with us but there are also a large number of other women who have been met with personal injury or a much worse fate because basic rules of self defense and awareness were either ignored or were not known about. It is my desire to reverse that trend.

I was so inspired by our conversation, that I thought it would be prudent to share some basic rules with you designed to raise your awareness level so as to avoid becoming a victim or statistic.

Rules To Live By When Traveling

Always keep your most powerful weapon with you! I am not talking about the latest and greatest product on the market, or something you can order on-line. I am talking about the matter in between your ears. The mind is your best protection against becoming a victim, bar none! The trouble is, we humans and our “developed society” often is the cause for us not listening to that internal alarm, keeping us from danger. Did you know, that humans are the only beings that will feel danger and intentionally walk into it? Use all of your faculties at all times. This is not only true when traveling, but is should be employed at all times! Many years of military service has left me with a mind set that I am always being watched! It has served me well to this day. God gave the use of sight, touch, taste, smell, and hearing. As such, you should not concern yourself with being rude to someone if one or all of senses tells you that something is wrong. There are countless women that could have avoided sexual assault because they did not want to be rude and got on that elevator despite their gut felling. Be more pro-active! In addition to walking with a purpose, with head up and shoulders back, you should also keep your eyes scanning back and forth for anything that may cause alarm. I see far too many women totally engrossed in texting on the phone to a point that they do not even see the car that has come within inches of hitting them. Just imagine if someone was watching them or lying in wait for them because they knew that person’s pattern? It has happened. Keep your mind set right. Most don’t have clue as to what they would do if they were confronted with aggression. Therefore, you should always be thinking in terms of “what if” scenarios. I think everyone should have the basics of self defense because it keeps you in the right mind set, and you have a better chance of surviving an attack when you have learned and practiced some basic self defense techniques. Lastly, you must be willing to use what you know! My philosophy is, it is better to be prepared and not use it than not prepared and need it! Chance favors the prepared. It has been my experience that once you have the confidence afforded to you by self defense and awareness training, you will not even need to use it. However, that spare tire sure comes in handy when you are stranded with a flat tire doesn’t it? Well your safety is no different! Well I hope that this information has been helpful to you as you can never have enough information about your safety. This is you Minister of Defense, and I am signing off.

By: Xavier Smith

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