Protecting You, Your Family, Home and Business Part 1
GULF SHORES Ala.
By Rick McCann
BlueRAMMedia.com
March 24, 2025
This is the first of a four-part series on protecting yourself, your family, your home, and your business.
And, while this series was planned to be released in February, during the past few weeks along the Alabama Gulf Coast, the subject has become even more relevant after several home invasions and burglaries have occurred in our area.
There are six words that you will see appear often in this series:
Vigilance
Sensitivity
Size-Up
Measured
Mental Acuity
Response
Each one of these plays a significant part in keeping yourself and your family safe while also protecting property and assets when necessary.
Understanding how you can avoid circumstances or protect against certain situations and what is lawful when going into the protection mode is also very important.
For many in the military, law enforcement, or other public safety fields, “Vigilance” is a fundamental pillar of survival, and civilians are wise to follow the same principles in protecting themselves.
Being aware of your surroundings, sights and sounds, sudden movements of people, or having a keen smell could all save your life or that of a loved one.
The busyness of our lives today, the constant movement and going to and fro, always in a hurry to be someplace, is a negative when it comes to personal safety, vigilance, and mental acuity.
With so much going on around us, we seldom slow down long enough to process what is happening nearby, or who is around us.
The phrase, “Can’t See the Forest for the Trees”, meaning that someone is so focused on the details of a situation that they fail to grasp the bigger picture or overall context is exactly how most of us operate. We see things but we don’t allow our minds time enough to process what is really happening or compute what those sounds were. We just go about our business never realizing that danger might be all around us.
Who is in your space, what was that sound, or what is happening around you are things that your mind processes every minute that you’re awake but are you receiving those signals?
Sensitivity to sudden changes of your surroundings is a built-in mechanism for survival.
It is that inner voice that tells you that something has changed. That something is not right or that something bad is about to happen.
If you are keen on noticing even slight changes and allow yourself to queue into what your brain and your body are telling you, you’ll be better prepared to respond and to defend, yourself and your family.
There’s a difference between being vigilant and being always afraid or paranoid. Being alert is a natural and necessary part of your very being.
Years ago, vigilance training was also called “Situational Awareness”. It’s being aware of your surroundings, your environments, and those around you.
To be a good and safe driver, one must always stay alert, checking their rearview mirrors, side mirrors, speed, and the conditions of the road, looking for debris, potholes, or reckless or careless drivers pulling in front of your vehicle. A good driver is always expecting the unexpected and preparing to react to those situations.
And that’s exactly how we can protect ourselves in our everyday lives. Stay sharp, be alert, and be in tune with what you hear around you.
What might sound like nothing more than fireworks going off nearby, might be gunfire.
Staying attuned to nearby sounds, movements, and your surroundings, are first and foremost, the beginning stage of survival.
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