If you want to be able to do the business for real...u have to hit and get hit, and get used to it. As far as fear goes, everyone will have it, but its how u manage it that counts. Getting a little scared in training and still being able to function will go a long way in helping you control that fear in the streets. Getting scared and getting hit in training helps, you have to do this. Get used to that feeling of fear, and still do ur stuff. If you've never felt it, fear or getting attacked/hit, it is going to be a lot worse that it actually is. I have seen guys go down to hits that my grandmother could take, mainly due the shock of it, not the actual damage, in ohter words, they got scared.
Practice pre emptive striking, and actual fighting, like a match fighting as in u and ur enemy go to toe, coz while it's best to avoid, soemtimes it just happens, and u are in the s***, if all you know is how to hit, but can't actually fight. Forget about waiting for him or blocking, ur jsut a sitting duck. Unfortunately, hitting someone first is looked at unfavorably by the law...yes, the thing that can save u, makes u look like the bad guy. But waitng for him, ur on the back foot. Most self defense stuff, teach you how to counter, which is great in theory and in hte class. Not so good in the streets, not saying it won't work, but ur not putting your self in the best possible position waiting for the attack.
Of course, awareness and avoidance are key. If you stuffed up on awareness, then you have already stuffed up the avoidance,lol. It really just comes down to looking out for s*** (awareness) so you can get away from the s*** (avoidance). If those two fail, then Action. Either go away, or fight like the devil, and pre-empt, dont stop until he's out.
Even better if you hit him with a weapon (very naughty and totally unlawful, but very effective). Of course, I am not talkign about what is legal or what is not, I am purely talking about combat. As far as defending against weapon, which u should never do, unless u really have to, get an equaliser. And if you don't have an equaliser? Then GOOD luck.
This is a good thread, lots of good posts so far.
When i say use a weapon, that's the filipino side coming from me, coz we use weapons when we fight, which is frowned upon here. Eskrima kind of goes like this....use the weapons first, then if you lose ur weapons, ur empty hands will be ur emergncy tools. It's the complete opposite in most western countries, where empty hands get used first, then use weapons in emergncy if theempty hands don't work...lol. The way we look at it...its kind of a bit late if u use your hands first...u could be dead already....
When i first started in living here, I was amused or confused by empty hands first before weapons...that would get u dead very quickly back home...lol