Self Defense

This is a non-makeup post.
Last night, I did something I'd been saying I wanted to do for years- took a self defense class. What a night! 2 and a half hours of learning how to get out of threatening situations, and even the chance to ask the teachers what to do in specific scenarios. I asked about what to do if someone comes up behind you when you're unlocking your car door, and the senseis (is that the plural for sensei?) jumped at the opportunity to teach me ways to inflict pain using my keys. They told me that if your keys are already in your hand, you're in great shape. An easy thing to do (as a part of several other techniques that I'm not skilled enough to describe) is to throw your keys in their face to distract them. If your keys are on a lanyard, hold onto the lanyard and your keys will come right back to you. I'm so going to buy a lanyard for my keys. I always feel a bit vulnerable when I'm getting into my car at night.

A little bit about me: I'm not a large person by any means. I stand at 5'3'' and weigh about 105 pounds. I'm a small (but feisty) thing. My independent nature means that I often venture places on my own, so it's not uncommon for me to be alone at night in an unfamiliar city. I've certainly felt apprehensive while walking around alone at night.

Last night, I learned how to do things that I still can hardly believe I'm capable of. The idea that little me can get a large man with an aggressive hold on me to the ground without breaking a sweat blows my mind. I plan to take more self defense classes, because knowing that I can potentially get myself out of a threatening situation is quite empowering. Hopefully I'll never actually have to use any of the techniques I've learned so far, but it's nice to know that they're in my bag of tricks.

I highly suggest taking at least one self defense course, so you can confidently embark on all your sparkly adventures.

Have you taken any self defense courses? Any thoughts?