Thanks for telling your story. I bet it felt empowering as hell defending yourself like that. I had a bullying incident in middle school and defended myself similarly, which felt great at the time. Recently, I started to worry about my 7 yr/o son at school with the other boys because I mistakenly thought he was on the reticent side when it comes to conflict. I worried about whether he could defend himself if caught in such an unfortunate situation against a bully. But boy was I surprised when I feigned attacking him the other day and he responded with a succession of punches and kicks to my body. I had to yell, "OK, OK, stop! That's enough!"