I punched the man who broke into my home – it came naturally

[libodem]

1. A lot of confidence is gained

By taking self defense training. We had a 6 week course back in '76 when I worked at one of our State Hospitals. We often had to jump in and break up fights between patients. That meant taking on the aggressor during combat, and not hurting them. We had to safely get their arms behind their backs and drop them to the ground.

I learned to keep my head up and my eyes open. You grab those flying fists and move in too close for them to swing.

My previous fight style was close my eyes and cover my head with my arms. I knew I couldn't hurt my patients. I didn't know how to restrain them with safety and care.

A few more lessons and I might have been as kick ass as Skittles.