I recall when I was younger my dad jumped out the vehicle to draw some cash from the ATM. I was alone in the car. The doors were unlocked. Now, if you live in lovely sunny Africa then you know, you don’t leave the vehicle doors open.
Anyhoo, true to form two indigenous people approached the car. One on either side. One opened the driver door. I had quick reflexes and pushed my car door button down when he opened the vehicle door. He kept saying it’s ok girlie, I’m just talking all the while feeling the ignition for the keys!!! The other bloke was on my side of the car trying the door!!!
Well, let me just say, I swore so badly, that a sailor would have gone overboard had he heard me! I lunged forward and pulled the driver door! The thug realised there was no keys and nothing much else to steal so he and his accomplice ran off!
Mind you, it was a busy Saturday morning and nobody came to my aid!! They just watched this happen!
A few minutes later my dad arrived and found me in a state! I think the Adrenaline had eased off!
That day I learnt that in a stressful situation, I’ll fight.
What is/was your reaction to a stressful situation?Fright, Fight and Flight?
Gosh that would be really scary, Minx! I think in that situation I would have beeped the horn really fast and loud to attract attention. maybe…or I would have been frozen in fear and started crying!
I deal with stressful situations a lot better now, but Fright and Flight were my go to, when I was younger. It really depends on the situation…if its physically stressful, I fight…if its emotional, I tend to hide and sleep a lot until I work out a solution
We were coming back from a real good weekend at the Coast, a place we went to a lot called Winchelsea Beach, our Caravan on Tow and our 3 young children in the back… We were on the very busy A21 from Hastings and were heading towards Sevenoaks…Traffic built up as usual at Pembury and so all now on a go slow even stopping to a halt at times.
When we got going a few cars ahead were stopped by a group of motor cyclists and started intimidating the car occupants by driving around them…So we all came to a halt pretty quickly again.
This happened again to another vehicle in front of us now…
once again they drove around the poor family and then drove off speeding…and acting a touch crazy now.
I am very wound up and thinking what the hell are they trying to do to people…
A good few metres down the A21 they pulled into layby…
I said to my husband pull in now…I was raging…I got out of our car and screamed and shouted at them, swore something terrible at this Mob…where is help when you need it…
Husband had his jaw dropped and the children well they just were shocked at their Mother…,
They said absolutely nothing to me whatsoever…did I achieve anything…not really but felt a lot better for the airing of my feelings…
When I lived in Los Angeles I had to commute downtown everyday to get to work. Two of the blocks I had to walk through were considered “Skid Row”(very bad part of downtown), but I always crossed through during the day. This is where I got mugged the one and only time in my life. 2 guys came at me as they started to pass one stopped and ask if I had a cigarette, the other grabbed me from behind. They were going for my wallet, and I was doing nothing. Two reasons 1. I had lived in L.A. long enough that when I made that walk my wallet(real wallet) was in my boot. In my back pocket was a cheap Velcro wallet with 2 one dollar bills. 2. Reason was while they were trying to get my wallet a Police car had pulled up behind them. So I started laughing the cops yelled Stop Police, they took off the cops right behind and me laughing and yelling “You’re going to jail for $2.00!” Was I afraid it all happened so fast I really couldn’t tell you, but it got amusing fast. Oh forgot I also got the wallet and the $2 back.
Heavens, this reminds me of a time when I was trying to cross the road with the dog. A car that I was trying to peek round, started backing towards me as if reversing. I couldn’t move away and the car (which did have a driver in it, it wasn’t like the brake had come off or anything) still kept backing up on me. I went absolutely banana’s in fear that either me and the dog were going to get squashed, so I rained blows all over his car, moving round to the window where he sat mute, staring ahead out the window as I banged on his window screaming every utterance under the sun at him.
I crossed the road eventually, and he drove off. What the heck?
I stumbled into the path of two raving smackheads recently, the me teenager would have been ready for it, as a nearly pensioner I was not, it was quite shocking, never let your guard down.
I am not an overall gotta get you back kind of person because…but there has been just a handful of times that I have acted without thinking…just happens like the time I tooked down a fence that was freshly done with concrete posts…funny now, but was hours to move on from that one… as the thread is fright, had that, flight done that, fight done that also.
I would hazard a guess that most people have touched on all three at sometime during there lives.
@Minx I think the response is situational. Angry bear flight! Angry bear catching up to you fright. Angry bear catches fight. You loose of course, but you get what I mean.
I think in that situation I would have beeped the horn really fast and loud to attract attention. maybe…or I would have been frozen in fear and started crying!
