I once was walking along a logging road. I was scouting out new hunting grounds in the great northwest out in the area of Mount Saint Helens. Yes, the same area that Sasquatch are seen but that is not what is going to happen that day. As I rounded a corner, I spotted elk flying across the road like they were running from something, and I was right. Shortly after they crossed a short way from me out came a mountain lion. When it hit the road, it stopped for a second, and at that time even when I had my gun on me, I feared for my life. Then after looking at me, it took off after the elk once again. The fear for my life was only temporary while it stopped and looked at me. Once it took off, I was still on the edge fearing it might change his mind, so I got out of there.
Another time I was repelling down a 300-foot cliff and I was the first one to go down. As I pushed out the last time I came to the end of the rope and after it cleared my gear it slapped me in the face and I fell about 20 feet to a sandy incline. Yes, it scared the H, E, double hockey sticks out of me. I climbed back to the rope and tied the end of the rope into a knot so it would not happen to the others. Upon the slap on the face, I was thinking that was going to be it.
My thoughts on fearing for my life will be quick and instant. In a self-defense situation a person may not have time to assess that they are going to be in a deadly situation until they are in a deadly situation. Using your situational awareness hopefully someone will have the wherewithal to know there is a bad situation and be able to avoid it but on that immediate threat having a cool head and composure to react properly and at the right time enabling themselves to get out of that situation with minimal damage.
To feel as though your life is in danger in a heightened situation there are different levels of it just like the stages of situational awareness color codes. When you are moving in an orange color awareness you need to access in micro-seconds what to do. Then you have to ask like I did with the mountain lion, am I really in trouble or not. How should I react, what should I do? What are your abilities?
Now a days, if I slip and fall, I am in fear of my life and bodily harm. Shoot, If I sneeze wrong it could hurt me and cause bodily harm. The reality of fearing for your life will have different intensities. Slipping while you are on a roof will wake you up, sliding to the edge will scare the weebie geebies out of you, falling off the roof will make you fear for your life. I just hope if you are in a life-threatening situation that you react appropriately and come out on top.
To fear for your life means to genuinely believe you could be killed or that your survival is in danger. It’s more than being worried or startled—it’s feeling that you might not make it through a situation alive.
Maybe I’m reading way too much into this but let me just say THIS IS WHY I TRAIN! , You train (if you can) until it all becomes second nature, you train for just this instance where you can be so scared if you didn’t have that training you might FREEZE! or HESITATE just enough and a ‘BG’ can get the drop on you and you are dead. There is NO fool proof way to train yourself not to freeze. You must train to no matter what happens you kick SURVIVAL MODE to compensate /adjust past it to tackle the threat. If you ever get to see Warfighters train I highly recommend it. I personally was able to see for myself the self prep it takes to get into Warrior mode and start the Mission. Just the ‘Calming Breaths’ before jump off and I saw the eyes go hard, ready, prepared.
We do the same thing (@ least I do) usually before I begin my Outside daily tasks. I do a basic threat assessment ;Where am I going’ Neighborhood ok?, Routes I could take etc. It isn’t a plan written down just over the years I’ve developed a routine for being safe (as safe as possible these days). I KNOW before I open he garage door my sidearm is on he console (along w/ OC Spray by the shifter… then we go from there Situational Awareness UP and we open the door. Till I/We get home this doesn’t relax. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast. If you aren’t rushing about, LATE (again for something, you will do ok, If you rush you miss signs, you miss that sensation of impending danger, if you are off your game that can be when danger strikes.
I’ve Bounced through my life adapting to changes, sometimes it was smooth other times it was a nightmare that took years to recover from. I will admit I am more of a homebody since retirement this year and the threat level has almost gone down to non-existent. I like it that way. I felt I’ve been ‘ON’ for the last 30 years and it’s nice to ‘putter’ and enjoy my sh!t safely. If everything is calm life is good when the Fur flies I am ready.
I can’t predict when crap will happen but it’s nice to know the training does kick in if I ever need it. But we have to put in the work.
That is a good point about how quickly a situation can change. Sometimes you have only seconds to react, and staying calm enough to make the right decision can make all the difference. Situational awareness is probably one of the most important skills to develop.
Removed my story as I don’t think I’ve ever really been in fear for my life. I don’t want to drown, burn or be eaten, but as I’ve matured over the past 60 freaking years I believe the odds of that happening have greatly diminished. Biggest thing these days is outliving my wife, per her request. 7 edits, the AI pop up asking why I’m editing will be back in the stone age with my responses.
Getting there sucked. Ruptured spleen when I was 7, and hypothermia at 22.
I’ve posted the stories before, so won’t again. Suffice to say, those two experiences left me with a comfort about death that makes people think I’m not all here.
When my time comes I will take deaths hand and walk away smiling with the knowledge I’ve done my best.
I will not go into specifics but the one time I was threatened by two knife-wielding thugs, after one of them sucker-punched me, I got out of Dodge. Quick. This was long before my CCW days and I wasn’t with family. I knew it was a no-win situation and I wasn’t embarrassed to say I ran away. I am more situationally aware now that no one will sucker-punch me ever again.
In this vein, about the only time I’ve felt this was possibly when I was homeless living in a tent on BLM land in roaring fork valley here in Colorado (between glenwood springs and aspen)
I woke up to an almost eerie silence, but something big was moving past my tent. I knew instinctively it was a cougar
Then there was an explosion of movement, loud crashing through the brush, and the screams of a deer.
All just a few yards from my tent in the middle of the night,…
I wasn’t sure I’d survive, because I wasn’t sure what the cat was stalking!
I kept my fillet knife close at all times anyway, but that night it was in my hand the whole time!
. (You’re gonna needa bigger POT! 
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