After a well-deserved sleep, I look back at the wild encounter that I had yesterday. It was a surreal experience. Not since I was young and dumb have I been so close to a violent physical altercation.

But what strikes me the most is how I reacted to the situation in the moment.

I don’t know what made me stand and expect to be tackled by this freight train of rage. I believed that she was committed. And the deadness in her eyes told me that it wasn’t a conscious decision. She was charging towards me and whatever was going to happen would hurt.

But I didn’t run. So the flight response didn’t kick in. However, I didn’t have a fight response either. Even as this person charged towards me, I had no intention of hitting her. Unless things escalated to a point where my safety was in jeopardy, I didn’t want to reciprocate violence.

I simply stood my ground and accepted the fact that doing so could have consequences. There was this person, mentally ill or on drugs — screaming that she wanted to kill me — and I neither ran away nor retaliated. I simply braced for impact.

This was not a calculated decision. Looking back, it would have been smarter to step out of her path and avoid physical contact of any sort. That would be the logical response. But I didn’t. Something within me took control and made the decision for me.

It was neither fight nor flight.

This was something else.