10 Things to Never Do in a Dangerous Situation

Reading Time: 6 minutes

Everyone will experience a dangerous situation in their lifetime. 

Your heart starts to beat rapidly, you feel your palms getting sweaty, and the hairs on the back of your neck perk up.

Your natural instinct to survive is kicking in and your body is alerting you that you may have to run or fight.

If you’re in a sticky situation like this, there are things you should do and some things you shouldn’t do.

Today we’ll discuss the most important things you should never do in a dangerous situation.

1. Never Panic

The worst thing to do in a dangerous situation is panic. Panicking puts your body into a state shock and your reflexes, systems, motor skills, and mental processes are impaired. It negatively impacts every aspect of the situation and decreases your chances of making the right decision and surviving. 

Your fine motor skills will become affected making it difficult to hold and use a self defense weapon. You become frantic and rigid which affects your ability to run away or properly fight back. Your body and mind reach a high level of stress, which adversely affects your physical and mental abilities.

So in a dangerous situation, never panic and try to relax, take a deep breath, and properly analyze the situation.

2. Never Take Your Focus off the Potential Threat

A stranger standing 10 feet away from you can close the distance and reach you in just a couple of seconds. 

That’s why you should never take your focus off a potential threat. You don’t have to and shouldn’t constantly hold eye contact and watch his every move - in fact that would be way too obvious!

What you should do is always be aware of a potential threat’s presence and actions. You can stay vigilant by using your peripheral vision, sense of hearing, or simply sensing the situation and environment around you.

If you’re aware of a threat’s presence, and he tries to close the distance between you to attack, your instincts and senses will alert you, and you can use those few seconds to run away, call for help, or prepare to defend yourself.

3. Never Choose Material Belongings Over Your Physical Safety

Your physical well being is worth more than your material possessions. We all work hard to put food on the table and buy nice things for ourselves. And it’s difficult to lose those possessions that we value highly and have worked so hard for. But if there’s a mugger with a knife trying to take your cell phone, do not fight back. Do not hold on to your cell phone and force the mugger to use force to take it from you. Relinquish your cell phone, throw it on the ground, and be happy that you still have your health and life.

4. Never Make Any Drastic Movements

Drastic movements can startle a perpetrator and propel him to take action. If a perpetrator has bad intentions, the last thing you want to do is force him into action. Therefore if you’re in a dangerous situation, you shouldn’t immediately run away or reach for your knife. These drastic movements might make a mugger physically attack you even if that wasn’t his plan. Or it might make a predator attack you faster or more violently than he had planned.

You should run away or retrieve your knife after properly evaluating the situation. If the perpetrator is distracted and takes his focus off of you, that might be your only chance to run away and seek help, or retrieve a knife to be prepared to defend yourself. In both cases, you should not do so with drastic or frantic movements. Instead do so with calm and calculated motions.

5. Never Turn Your Back on a Potential Threat

Turning your back on a potential threat puts you in an unfavorable position.

First, you are not able to fully focus on a potential threat with your back to him since your main sense of vision will be gone.

Second, in an attack, one of the worst positions to be in is with your opponent on your back. Once an opponent has grabbed you or is attacking you from behind, you have a much lower chance of winning or surviving. All of the body’s natural self defense weapons such as our arms, legs, knees, head, and even your mouth are located at the front of your body and operate forward. It would be virtually impossible to defend yourself and survive against a predator attacking you from behind.

6. Never Give the Benefit of the Doubt to a Potential Threat

Never trust, believe or give the benefit of the doubt to a potential threat. A potential threat can be a service worker at your front door or a stranger outside your car.

If a potential threat asks you to do something that might put you in danger and has a good reason for you to do so, don’t give him the benefit of the doubt and put yourself in danger.

For example let’s say there’s a stranger outside your car who's acting suspicious. If he asks you to open your car door to help him, don’t immediately do so. Evaluate the situation and the first thing you should do is call 911 for assistance. If he’s actually injured, the police would be able to help him more than you could. Be smart and never give the benefit of the doubt to a potential threat.

7. Never Show Weakness

Predators feed off of fear or weakness in their victims. Predators seek people who look weak or vulnerable because predators are cowardly and weak, and they don’t want to risk losing in a fight. They are insecure and scared themselves, and it’s smart to use this against them.

Kelly Herron, one of the most famous survivors, was able to defend herself against an attacker by fighting back and yelling “not today motherf@&$er!”. Kelly showed no weakness and her physical defensive skills plus her mental fortitude helped save her life that day.

Even in the face of an intimidating enemy, never show weakness or fear.

8. Never Show All The Cards in Your Hand

Just like in poker, never show all the cards in your hand.

This idiom simply means that you don’t want to show your opponent everything you’re capable of doing, or else he will know your full strength and can prepare for your attack.

If you’ve been kidnapped and you have a pocket knife hidden in your pocket, use it wisely. If you just take it out at the first chance you get, you might lose your only opportunity to survive. Instead, wait until your kidnapper lets his guard down, and then seize the opportunity.

9. Never Play by the Rules

Evil people have no rules and no morals. Don’t show him any mercy, because he surely hasn’t and won’t show you any mercy.

For example, if you’re being assaulted and your attacker has an injury like a cast on his arm, try to harm his injured arm. There are no rules when you’re defending yourself in a life or death situation.

If he doesn’t have any visible injuries, go for his groin and private area. Do not worry about his health or that you could be injuring him for life. The moment he made the decision to attack you, he was giving up his rights to his own personal health and well being.

10. Never Give Up Fighting

The human spirit is stronger than anything. No matter the situation or the circumstances, never give up fighting. You never know what will happen. Help could be just seconds away. You could strike him in a spot that makes him incapacitated. Always fight till the end.

In Closing

The best way to survive a dangerous situation is to be prepared for one. Arm yourself with a self defense product. Train with a few basic self defense moves. Learn about the best protective techniques and mindsets to survive a dangerous situation. And in some cases, it’s helpful to know what not to do in a dangerous situation as opposed to what you should do. Share these tips with a loved one as many people should also know what not to do in a dangerous situation. Stay safe and protected!