{"id":108103,"date":"2025-03-06T18:50:33","date_gmt":"2025-03-07T00:50:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=108103"},"modified":"2025-03-06T19:06:14","modified_gmt":"2025-03-07T01:06:14","slug":"108103","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=108103","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.shootingillustrated.com\/content\/no-go-away\/\">Always be nice. Until it\u2019s time to not be nice.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s dissect the word \u201cno\u201d and make sure that we are using the best tone and body language when it matters most, self-preservation.<\/p>\n<p>I spent time in the Merriam-Webster dictionary and the word \u201cno\u201d can be a noun, an adjective, or an adverb.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Nouns are the \u201csubjects\u201d of a sentence that refer to a person, place, thing, or idea. Example: \u201creceived a firm &#8216;no&#8217; in reply.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Adjectives describe or modify a noun. What kind? How many? Example: \u201cno disputing the decision.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Adverbs provide additional information about the verb. How? When? Where? Basically, action. Example: \u201cshook his head no.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I find this interesting because no matter what the category, \u201cno\u201d means roughly the same thing. Negative. Refusal. None. Denial. Never. Veto.<\/p>\n<p>Think about all the different people you may say \u201cno\u201d to throughout the day. Now, think about some of the non-vigorous diverse ways to say \u201cno.\u201d Here are several examples listed below.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I am afraid I can\u2019t.<\/li>\n<li>Maybe next time.<\/li>\n<li>I am busy.<\/li>\n<li>I am not comfortable doing that.<\/li>\n<li>I don\u2019t want to.<\/li>\n<li>Sounds great, but I cannot commit to it.<\/li>\n<li>I am honored but I can\u2019t.<\/li>\n<li>I have another commitment.<\/li>\n<li>I will have to pass.<\/li>\n<li>I\u2019m not interested.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>There is a time and a place for everything, why not think of the word \u201cno\u201d in those terms? There are times to be polite, there are times to turn something down and give a reason, there are times to be direct with a simple \u201cno\u201d. The whole while needing time to consider the context and relationship when deciding how passive or firm you need to be.<\/p>\n<p>Scenario: It is the middle of the day; you are at your favorite gas station filling up your tank and you see that a stranger has taken interest in you.\u00a0<a title=\"Reactionary Zones\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shootingillustrated.com\/content\/understanding-reactionary-zones\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">He is about twenty-five feet from you<\/a>, and you recognize that you have just been \u201ctargeted.\u201d The bad man stares at you for over half a minute, gives you a charming smile and heads your way.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Do you politely say, \u201cMaybe next time\u201d and then turn your back on him?<\/li>\n<li>Do you say, \u201cI am honored that you have chosen me, but I\u2019ll have to pass\u201d and then offer him a dollar&#8230;which brings him closer to you?<\/li>\n<li>Do you say \u201cstop! I cannot help you\u201d while preparing to take other actions?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>If your answer was #1 or #2, then you may not fully understand how to use the word \u201cNO!\u201d when you need to stop someone in their tracks.<\/p>\n<div class=\"rte-image rte-image-right\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"img-responsive\" src=\"https:\/\/www.shootingillustrated.com\/media\/hayjkltu\/talk_to_the_hand.jpg\" alt=\"Hands up\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"rte-image-caption\">Talk to the hand&#8230;<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>There are times when you need to say \u201cno\u201d in a forceful way. Your goal is to grab their attention and make them understand that you are not vulnerable. Here are a few tips:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Your \u201cNo, go away\u201d should be guttural and firm with a loud, commanding voice. It is a good idea to try to combine your \u201cno\u201d with simple instructions on what you want them to do, such as, \u201cNo, leave now\u201d. Your goal is for them to leave without further confrontation.<\/li>\n<li>Maintain solid eye contact for a few seconds that says, \u201cI am serious\u201d. Please manage your eye contact timing so it does not become a challenging stare.<\/li>\n<li>Stand tall to show confidence, position your hands\/arms in front of you to protect your head if things get nasty (plus it signals the universal \u201cno\u201d) and look around to see what direction you can quickly move to if necessary. Please make note that there is a difference between a confident posture and aggressive body language.<\/li>\n<li>While all the above is happening, deploy pepper spray and reposition yourself so your car, the pump, the trash can, etc. are in between you and the bad man. An obstacle can give you time and space to make decisions.<\/li>\n<li>If all of this does not stop him then maybe these steps have earned you the option to leave and avoid a potentially dangerous situation, or maybe it has put yourself in a position that you can use your pepper spray to stop him from doing bad things.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I highly recommend that you rehearse these steps, so they are fluid and feel second nature to you. The key to mastery is practice, practice, practice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Always be nice. Until it\u2019s time to not be nice. Let\u2019s dissect the word \u201cno\u201d and make sure that we are using the best tone and body language when it matters most, self-preservation. I spent time in the Merriam-Webster dictionary and the word \u201cno\u201d can be a noun, an adjective, or an adverb. Nouns are &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=108103\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-108103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-safety","category-self-defense"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=108103"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108103\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":108105,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108103\/revisions\/108105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=108103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=108103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=108103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}