Is Self-Confidence an Effective Self-Defense

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Category : Belief★Confidence★Defense★Martial Arts

Self-confidence is about being convinced in your own abilities and trusting yourself in a given situation. Self-confidence does not mean arrogance. Arrogance is about believing that you are more important than others around you or about having an exaggerated belief in your own abilities. The two characteristics seem similar in words but they look very different in practice. The main difference between the two is where the thoughts are directed. Arrogance is focused on those outside of oneself. Arrogant people believe they are better than someone else. Conversely, self-confidence is a focus inward regardless of the external influences.

What is Self-defense?

Self-defense is the defense of one’s person or interests. By its very nature self-defense cannot happen prior to some external aggression. Self-defense never goes on the offensive. If an attacker rushes you and you deflect them into the wall behind you, that is self-defense. If you then charge them and start punching you are no longer self-defending, you are attacking. This is not to say that it isn’t within your right to go on the offensive but that is not what this discussion is about. This is about the connection between self-confidence and self-defense.

How can Self-Confidence Be an Effective Self-Defense?

Now that there is a baseline for the definition of self-confidence and self-defense it’s time to address the original question. Since self-defense refers to a physical attack how can self-confidence, something that is mental, ever be a self-defense?

Can Martial Arts Develop Self-Confidence?

Martial arts refers to several sports/skills of primarily Japanese origin that focus on forms of self-defense. There are aspects of martial arts that teach how to go on the offensive but the primary focus is on self-defense, self-control, and self-awareness. So if martial arts teach self-defense, can martial arts also teach or develop self-confidence in those who practice martial arts?

Physical Training

There is no doubt that martial arts training is a fantastic exercise. It is a rigorous training that will affect your posture, endurance, stamina, agility, balance and so much more. It will get your heart rate up and burn calories. It is extremely effective as an aerobic and weight loss activity.

While this is a wonderful result of martial arts training, it is not the primary goal. However, if you were in better shape would you be more confident about yourself? If you developed a better posture, which is primarily straightening the back, holding the head upright, and straightening the shoulders, would you feel more confident? The answer is yes, it would make anybody feel more confident about themselves.

Mental and Physical Discipline

Martial arts is about structure, tons of structure. It is about learning physical motions that you can control completely. It’s about learning to focus your mind not only on your own physical movements but about everything that is around you. Martial arts teaches how to assess a situation in the blink of an eye and make a conscious decision about how you will respond. During training, martial artists are constantly put into sparring matches with an opponent who is bigger and stronger than they are. This forces the trainee to think and act with complete control of their mind and body because they know if they fight by strength alone they will lose.

Would this discipline develop self-confidence? Would a person who has been training for 1 month feel more confident than they did on their first day of training? It most certainly would give self-confidence. Remember, self-confidence is trusting one’s own abilities. The more training a martial artist has, the more confident they will be in themselves.

Can Self-Confidence be and Effective Self-Defense?

So now that it has been established that martial arts will enhance your self-confidence let’s look to see if that self-confidence can be a self-defense.

Arguments For

As stated above, martial arts will instill a confidence in its artists that they did not have before. This may very well be unknown to the person because they might not be able to see or understand the changes taking place. Generally, those who choose to attack or bully someone else will pick someone they feel is an easy target. A martial artist will walk and handle themselves with a level of comfort and control that could very likely deter someone from attacking them.

Beyond the mental discipline of martial arts is the very practical physical training. The training is to teach how to repel an attacker. The training is specifically focused on how to repel an attacker that is bigger and stronger than you. If you are threatened by an aggressor and you are confident that you and those with you will be safe because you can effectively defend against any attack that person can bring, you will not cower before the attacker. On the contrary, you will stand confidently before them. Attackers almost always will prey on the weak and easy targets. If they realize you are not an easy target they will most likely leave you alone.

Arguments Against

If your self-confidence comes from being physically fit or from knowing how to throw a few punches it can be very easy to cross the line from self-confidence to arrogance. If you have an exaggerated sense of your own abilities you may ignore the dangers and you may actually encourage them. Self-confidence that is really arrogance will look like a challenge to an attacker and may, in fact, encourage them to attack.

Self-confidence means you know what you are capable of but it also means knowing what you are not capable of. The reason that martial arts works against a stronger opponent is because the opponent believes that their strength, street smarts, and rage will give them the upper hand. All the self-confidence in the world doesn’t ensure victory every time.

Conclusion

The answer to the question “can self-confidence be an effective self-defense?” is yes it can be. If self-confidence is grounded in reality it can be very effective at stopping an attack before it ever happens. That is the best kind of self-defense, the kind you never have to use. But self-confidence won’t always be effective. There are situations where self-confidence won’t be enough and where physical self-defense will be required. Martial arts is great for both. It will boost your self-confidence to levels you never expected and it will also give you the skills and training necessary to use physical self-defense to protect yourself or those around you.

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