You must know when to walk away from a fight.

 

Posted by ADAM CARTER on AUG 9, 2022

You must know when to walk away from a fight.

 

Getting into a physical fight is never a good idea, and every self-defense expert will tell you that if you can avoid a fight if at all possible, then you should. But, sometimes you can’t, if you’re attacked physically then you need to protect yourself.

Fighting is wrong. But sometimes it’s necessary, and if you need to fight, you must do it well, to the best of your ability, and only after you’ve exhausted every effort to avoid the confrontation in the first place.

Winning is not your goal – survival is your main objective.

You should try your utmost to steer clear of trouble, to examine conscience before acting out of anger, to decide never to use your martial arts skills unless it’s inescapable. But, in those cases, when you have no choice, then you must exert every effort to defend yourself and others.

It can be hard to humble yourself during emotionally charged or potentially dangerous situations, but sometimes it’s necessary in order to avoid the fight, or even just to survive it.

Your pride is not worth your life. If all it takes is a simple apology to get out of a threatening situation, then apologize. If someone points a weapon at you and demands your wallet, you better believe it’s a good idea to give it to them. And by doing so, you may avoid trouble – or at least not making things worse.

In a situation like that, depending on whether the mugger is armed and what his weapon of choice is, you might be capable of winning the physical confrontation and keeping your wallet. Maybe he doesn’t appear to be armed, and you become so angry with him for having the audacity to take what’s yours, that youI decide to fight back. Maybe you can overpower your attacker, subdue him and watch him get carted off by the Police.

Or maybe your attacker pulls out a gun from his waistband and shoots you. Now, you not only lost your wallet, you lost your life, and maybe the lives of others.

Anger can be one of the hardest emotions to control. It makes us impulsive, almost unstable at times. We can’t think through problems the way we normally would, and as a result, it’s easy to end up doing something we regret. That’s why, during conflict, it’s important never to act violently in response to anger.

The problem is some practitioners have only been taught to fight, taught to win, it’s all they know!

So when facing an angry opponent, how do you avoid the fight?

If possible, don’t make fighting your first priority, try to diffuse the attackers anger and make a safe exit. If, however, the situation continues to escalate and a physical altercation is imminent, then the use of force is necessary. If avoidance is no longer possible, you have to employ 100% force, 100% commitment and attention, have a single-minded purpose to defend yourself, eliminate in your opponent the desire to keep fighting, and commit your entire self into surviving

However, you must know when to walk away from a fight, and be happy to do so. Know yourself well enough that you can recognize that it’s okay, to win by losing. Stay cool and humble, you don’t have to prove yourself to anyone. Survive.