Once again I am thankful for the mental side of my training.

[bushido_man96]

You're doing the right thing here. Unless there's an immediate and unquestionable threat of violence, there's no point in escalating the situation. He's trying to feed his own ego, and it's pathetic. I learned this one the hard way, and it could have been far worse...

During my college years (there were many), a friend of mine and I were staggering out of a bar. About 10 feet ahead of us was my ex and her new boyfriend. He didn't see us and was running his mouth saying he was going to beat me up next time he saw me. My friend looked at me, shook his head and simply said "Don't do it." I decided to yell out "Here I am! See me now?"

He stood behind his girlfriend and started getting mouthy and challenging me. Once I got close enough, his girlfriend told him to run because he was going to get his rear end kicked. She'd seen me train. He didn't like that, so he threw a punch from behind her and ran into his apartment. Wasn't close to connecting, and wouldn't have hurt if it did, but I was livid that he'd hide behind a woman and throw a punch, so I chased him into his apartment.

His lacrosse teammates watched me beat him up a little bit, then pulled me off him. Luckily I was friendly with a few of them.

I made a big deal out of nothing. I escalated a situation. I could have gotten hurt pretty badly. I could have hurt him pretty badly. And for what? To prove that he couldn't back up his rant? To prove what anyone who knew either of us already knew? Talk about ego. Putting me down was all he had. Everyone knew that. I should've let him keep that.

Thank you for sharing this experience with us, JR 137. I know there have been a few times, especially when I was younger, when opening my mouth when I shouldn't have has led me into issues similar to this. They really go nowhere, and nothing good comes from it.

[JR 137]

You're doing the right thing here. Unless there's an immediate and unquestionable threat of violence, there's no point in escalating the situation. He's trying to feed his own ego, and it's pathetic. I learned this one the hard way, and it could have been far worse...

During my college years (there were many), a friend of mine and I were staggering out of a bar. About 10 feet ahead of us was my ex and her new boyfriend. He didn't see us and was running his mouth saying he was going to beat me up next time he saw me. My friend looked at me, shook his head and simply said "Don't do it." I decided to yell out "Here I am! See me now?"

He stood behind his girlfriend and started getting mouthy and challenging me. Once I got close enough, his girlfriend told him to run because he was going to get his rear end kicked. She'd seen me train. He didn't like that, so he threw a punch from behind her and ran into his apartment. Wasn't close to connecting, and wouldn't have hurt if it did, but I was livid that he'd hide behind a woman and throw a punch, so I chased him into his apartment.

His lacrosse teammates watched me beat him up a little bit, then pulled me off him. Luckily I was friendly with a few of them.

I made a big deal out of nothing. I escalated a situation. I could have gotten hurt pretty badly. I could have hurt him pretty badly. And for what? To prove that he couldn't back up his rant? To prove what anyone who knew either of us already knew? Talk about ego. Putting me down was all he had. Everyone knew that. I should've let him keep that.

Thank you for sharing this experience with us, JR 137. I know there have been a few times, especially when I was younger, when opening my mouth when I shouldn't have has led me into issues similar to this. They really go nowhere, and nothing good comes from it.

That situation could have been so much worse. I could have been beaten up by the guys in the house. Could have beaten him up worse. He could have been carrying a weapon. Could have been arrested for assault. Infinite could haves.

My initial intent wasn't to fight. It was to scare him. I escalated the situation by simply not shrugging off harmless stupidity on his part. He wasn't fooling anyone with his rant. But it's over and done with. Can't change the past.

[bushido_man96]

You're right, we can't change the past. But we can learn from it. I know I've made bad decisions like that, too. We learn, and we grow, and hopefully, we can spare someone else from the "could haves" that might not go their way in the same situation.

Again, thanks for sharing that here with us. Very big of you to share it.