65 and Up? How to Keep Safe From Rising Violence

All Baby Boomers, myself included, will be 65 and older by 2030. 

But those 65 and up are increasingly being targeted by violence. For some it's effecting how they live their life. 

Instead of participating in the activities they want to do, they are staying home. Victims of the FEAR of violence. Overwhelmed by the ANXIETY and STRESS that accompany that fear.

According to the New York Times, community centers are seeing a significant drop in attendance of those 65 and above. 

NYPD stats show that violence against people 65 and older rose by 10% from 2021 to 2022. Sexual assaults nearly doubled in that same time period.

In Monterrey Park, California 11 people aged 57-76 were slaughtered while out at a ballroom. The killer himself was 72.

But it’s not just big cities where those who should be enjoying the fruits of their labor face a growing threat to their safety.

In Arkabutla, Mississippi, a small town with a population of less than 300 people 6 people aged 59-78 were just gunned down by a man himself in his 50s.

So how do people aged 65 and above keep themselves safe from violence?

For more than 10 years I’ve taught hundreds of people, including those 65 and older how to be safe while living the life they want to live. Free from the stress and anxiety that fear for safety can cause. 

Here’s What You Can Do If You Have Concerns About Your Safety

•  Be proactive about your safety. There are steps that you can take to increase your safety from violence without sacrificing what you love to do. But, these steps require a commitment on your part.
•  Learn to read the environment around you. The best defense against violence is to avoid it. Not by hiding away. But by using your senses to observe the environment around you and the people within it. The best way to do that. Describe to yourself what you see. And keep doing that until it becomes habit. Have an exit strategy. Where can you go and what routes can you take if you need to leave.
•  Learn to calm a spiraling situation. You have a lifetime of experience dealing with people, channel the skills you have by focusing on keeping yourself calm. Don’t hold your breath. You’ll deprive your brain of oxygen while increasing your stress level making it harder to think and react. Talking helps. It keeps us calm, and forces a potential attacker to listen. Do it in a calm manner. Don’t scream. Use your hands to signify calming. Hands up, palms facing outward. 
•  Take away an attacker’s advantage. The average attack lasts only 7 seconds. So should you get attacked, you need to survive its onset and force the attacker to have to recalibrate to buy you time. This needs to be something physical, whether it’s creating an obstacle for him to surmount, or trying to make him respond to a block or strike. Even if you miss.
•  Get physical to create a chance to exit safely. Self-defense is not martial arts. It’s not boxing. It’s not grappling. It’s about creating the opportunity to exit safely. That does mean striking back at the attacker repeatedly. Use your palms, elbows, knees, forearms, and anything else that is available. Don’t worry about perfection. But KEEP ON STRIKING AND DON’T STOP UNTIL YOU CAN LEAVE. Even if many of your strikes don’t land. It’s okay. And don’t worry about targeting a specific area. What’s ever available will do just fine. Just remember to hit, hit, hit, hit, hit, hit, and hit until you can leave.

Just because you’re a bit older than you used to be doesn’t mean you have to be a victim, and let fear and anxiety keep you from doing what you want to do. If you’d like to learn more about how to do so, download my free situational awareness guide, and watch my free on-demand personal safety workshop.