Consider The Environment
Jan 2023
Written as a guest post for the Urban Commuter Blog.
There are two very important constants we need to address to remain left of bang: the humans and the environment. The environment is a key element that many people fail to fully understand, often assuming it is beyond their control. But grasping what is happening around us is one of the most important things we can and must do. This applies not only to those in professions where their lives are constantly at risk and who must stay acutely focused on their surroundings, but also to everyday situations such as walking through your neighborhood, commuting to work, attending a sports event with your family, and countless other moments where things can go wrong.
To start understanding the environment, we first need to establish baselines, in other words, to grasp the "vibe" of a location. The mind relies on these baselines to determine what is normal in a situation and what seems off. This process is called situational awareness.
Situational awareness means paying close attention to the environment and to what our senses are telling us about it. The more we practice it, the more we train our senses to notice details and detect what does not belong. This is key to safety. Every place has its own rhythm and pattern of life. The routes we take on our commute, the grocery store, the hiking trail, all have their own normal. The sooner we learn what that normal looks like, the faster we can recognize when something deviates from it. Those deviations are signals, things we should pay extra attention to, because they might point to potential threats.
When we maintain a constant state of "relaxed awareness", we become more in tune with our surroundings and better able to sense indicators that something might be about to go wrong. Being aware does not mean being paranoid, it means taking the time to look around, lifting our eyes from our phones, and actually listening to what is happening around us.
Take time to observe the environment, to feel what belongs there, and to notice the small details that define normalcy in that specific place. This is one of the first things we should do whenever we arrive somewhere new. Understanding and mentally recording what "normal" looks and feels like allows us to immediately sense when something is off and to act quickly if needed. From there, we can begin assessing everything around us, learning the environment as we go and using it to our advantage. When things start to unfold unexpectedly, that situational understanding becomes invaluable, helping us assess faster and identify ways out. Always remember this: when in doubt, develop the situation. Slow things down, move to a safe place, and let the situation reveal itself so you can determine the best course of action.
There are a few things we can do to begin being more aware:
- Know that there is always a threat. The target of that threat can be you, or it can be the person next to you. It doesn’t matter if you don’t see it, the threat exists. Once you are aware of this, you can prepare yourself to deal with it mentally and physically, so when it happens you’ll know what to do. This is where the power of visualization comes in. Imagine the things that can go wrong, and imagine what you’d do. Rehearse in your head the steps to understand how you’d detect things going wrong, and what you’d do. Make this into “muscle memory”. Bad actors can have a lot of reasons to target you, some personal and some not. However regardless of the reasons, you cannot allow yourself to think that it will not happen to you.
- Make the environment work for you. Be aware of your surroundings. Remain focused on the people around you, the cars, the sounds, and the “electricity” in the air. People react to things, and if you can read the cues, you’ll be able to be left of bang.
- Change your habits. Habits play against you. A bad actor can build and plan an attack based on these habits. If you always commute at the same time, taking the same train, try changing the routes you walk, or the car you sit in. Always try to vary something in your commute. Change the patterns, change the way you do things. Don’t allow people to learn how and when you do things.
- Test yourself. This is the fun part: put yourself in the attacker’s shoes. See yourself as a bad person would. If you were to try to rob yourself, or disrupt yourself in any way, how would you do it? If you can find a way to do this, so does a bad person. Once you’ve done this, try to observe other people and see if you could “attack” them. Learn what looks out of place, and what other people’s patterns are. Make this work for you.
It is all about observation. This is the key. Learn to get in touch with the environment, and make it work for you. Move your head and take it all in. Smile.
Be safe.