I recently came across a video confirming what I’ve always believed is the number one tip for nomad safety.
It isn’t about having a weapon you’re comfortable using, although that’s certainly important, but if you don’t practice this number one tip for nomad safety, no weapon will be useful to you.
What Is The Number One Tip For Nomad Safety?
The video I’m sharing below reviews an interview with 40 violent offender inmates. They were asked, “why did you pick the victims you did?” These inmates had escaped imprisonment for far too long, in part based on their ability to pick out “good potential victims.” The inmates were shown videos of people walking, and all 40 picked out the same victims based on observing how they walked.
This is the video by “married to a lunatic” on Facebook :
That number one thing is confidence. Even if we have to fake it ’till we make it, it’s how we carry ourselves, head up, posture straight, gait decisive, and awareness on full alert.
I actually wrote about this in my blog article, Safety and Security on The Road, saying this:
“Remember the most important tool for self defense is your attitude. Most self defense is psychological, especially for women. We’ve been socialized to “be nice,” but this does nothing to protect us! A better demeanor is to be assertive and take no shit. Predators are looking for a weak target.”
As a female nomad, I’ve had a more than my share of questionable encounters. It’s an unfortunate reality for any nomad on the road, but I truly believe it was my firm stance and loud bitchy voice that kept me out of trouble.
Maybe it was the self defense Taekwondo class I took in my twenties, but it’s always stuck with me to be aware of my surroundings. I’ve always been the woman who walks with her keys in her hand and reviews potential weak spots to target on the human body, like eyes or larynx.
Iffy Scenarios!
Since becoming a nomad, I’ve been tested and come through some iffy scenarios, and that has also increased my confidence in being able to handle myself. That’s not to say I’ve never been afraid, which you can read about here, but I’ve tried have a confident stance in spite of fear. I wrote an entire chapter on fear in my book Wild Women On The Road.
My first iffy encounter on the road was up in the Adirondacks with a sketchy fisherman. He said he knew I was alone, and snuck up behind me in my campsite, which you can read about here.
Then there was the couple that stopped at my van in the Coconino Forest in Arizona. While the woman stood at my side door and yelled something about “what time is it,” her male partner walked around to the other side of the van. I naively opened the door, but I was lucky. I’ve always felt this was a potential “home invasion” but thankfully they left. And I moved.
I’ve had drunks and tweaked out drug users confront me, one I stood up to as I smacked a tire thumper into my palm. (I’ve now upgraded to a baton stunner.) (Affiliate link) That was probably the most actual danger I was ever in, and even warranted a 911 call. For some reason they couldn’t find me, which is why I’ve included pinning your location on your map app in other tips for nomad safety in the article, Safety and Security On The Road.
I had a potential smash and grab in a truck stop parking lot, while I was in the back of the van. I looked up and saw a hooded figure peering into the front seat of my van. When I yelled “what the fuck are you doing!?” he took off.
The Scariest Experience
My scariest experience wasn’t even a confrontation, but I was getting such strong “danger danger” signals It was the most scared I’ve ever felt on the road. I was parked alone on in a dark forest one night when a group of men pulled in a few hundred yards from me. They were already drunk and rowdy, swearing and yelling about pussy.
There was no way out besides driving by them on a narrow dirt road, and it took me almost 45 minutes to break through my “freeze” response. I finally pulled a baseball hat and hoodie down over my head so I would’t look like a little old lady, and finally drove off. Thankfully I’d parked facing out to my exit, which I highly recommend when camping, even with friends. The full story is here in my blog, My Scariest Nomad Experience.
None of this has deterred me from a life I love on the road! I’ve learned some valuable lessons from each encounter. I’ve also learned I have an inner goddess warrior who I can depend on to rise up fiercely when she feels threatened! No one is ever really safe in this life, and security is an illusion, but we can still practice courage to do what we love in spite of our fear!
For more stories, practical advice on how to deal with fear and other challenges we face as nomads, check out my book, now an audiobook as well as ebook and paperback:
Wild Women On The Road; A Women’s Guide to Nomadic Freedom In The Modern Age!
