dakota.potts
New member
I have a problem dealing with what should be stressful events. Minor things stress me (a totally different conversation) but big events that should be red flags kind of pass me right by.
It's happened most recently while driving. I have a learner's permit so I have to drive with somebody of a certain age. I've had incidents where I see something happen (somebody does a U-turn and then slows down so I have to apply my brakes quickly). I'll recognize that it's happening, at some level, but I don't feel anything about it. No fear or worry or anything. It causes a slow reaction time. If someone is in the car yelling that I have to hit the brakes or that I have to go right now to get across traffic, there's a couple second gap where I'm not really processing what happens. By the same token, if someone falls and gets hurt, although I will rush over to them, I feel like it's not a big deal and the person really couldn't be all that hurt. It just doesn't feel real and I don't have that urgency that I should have. Even when I know I should be feeling strong emotions, I may not feel anything immediately. It may take 5 seconds or a full minute for the effect to kick in and me to realize that I should be acting as if it's an emergency and that my heart has been pounding.
I am worried about this not just in situations like driving, but in self defense. I know I can practice my draw so that I can rely on muscle memory and training to get a good, quick draw. I am worried, though, that if I have one of the "moments" where it just doesn't feel like it's happening, that no amount of muscle memory will help me if I can't hit the "initiate protocol" button in my head and realize that I actually need to act.
I'm wondering if there's not a sort of stress inoculation training that wouldn't happen with this reactionary gap. I know some people say their IDPA or IPSC training helps them. One of the big issues for me is not only that I have this reactionary gap, but that people yelling and telling me what to do quickly overwhelms and frustrates me and I have a hard time focusing on what they're actually saying or what I should be doing. My dad was a wrestler for 8 years and suggested that an intense physical regimen where you must filter out information while in a physically tired state. For him this was wrestling but we discussed Jiu-Jitsu (which I have done before) or other types of physical defense classes including those dealing with firearms. He had talked about maybe a civilian boot camp program but I really don't know that that's the direction I want to take.
I'm looking for something that will give me experience thinking and reacting clearly in stressful environments including those that would be potentially dangerous in the real world. I need to learn to recognize a threat as it happens and act on it, as well as cope with the fact that there are going to be people scared and loud, maybe other people angry or trying to intimidate all while I'm trying to deal with a problem.
Have others had experience with a problem like this? What has worked well for them?
It's happened most recently while driving. I have a learner's permit so I have to drive with somebody of a certain age. I've had incidents where I see something happen (somebody does a U-turn and then slows down so I have to apply my brakes quickly). I'll recognize that it's happening, at some level, but I don't feel anything about it. No fear or worry or anything. It causes a slow reaction time. If someone is in the car yelling that I have to hit the brakes or that I have to go right now to get across traffic, there's a couple second gap where I'm not really processing what happens. By the same token, if someone falls and gets hurt, although I will rush over to them, I feel like it's not a big deal and the person really couldn't be all that hurt. It just doesn't feel real and I don't have that urgency that I should have. Even when I know I should be feeling strong emotions, I may not feel anything immediately. It may take 5 seconds or a full minute for the effect to kick in and me to realize that I should be acting as if it's an emergency and that my heart has been pounding.
I am worried about this not just in situations like driving, but in self defense. I know I can practice my draw so that I can rely on muscle memory and training to get a good, quick draw. I am worried, though, that if I have one of the "moments" where it just doesn't feel like it's happening, that no amount of muscle memory will help me if I can't hit the "initiate protocol" button in my head and realize that I actually need to act.
I'm wondering if there's not a sort of stress inoculation training that wouldn't happen with this reactionary gap. I know some people say their IDPA or IPSC training helps them. One of the big issues for me is not only that I have this reactionary gap, but that people yelling and telling me what to do quickly overwhelms and frustrates me and I have a hard time focusing on what they're actually saying or what I should be doing. My dad was a wrestler for 8 years and suggested that an intense physical regimen where you must filter out information while in a physically tired state. For him this was wrestling but we discussed Jiu-Jitsu (which I have done before) or other types of physical defense classes including those dealing with firearms. He had talked about maybe a civilian boot camp program but I really don't know that that's the direction I want to take.
I'm looking for something that will give me experience thinking and reacting clearly in stressful environments including those that would be potentially dangerous in the real world. I need to learn to recognize a threat as it happens and act on it, as well as cope with the fact that there are going to be people scared and loud, maybe other people angry or trying to intimidate all while I'm trying to deal with a problem.
Have others had experience with a problem like this? What has worked well for them?