The Day the Rule Fires
Everything so far has been about not being chosen. This lesson is for the day the rule from Lesson 3 fires: the same car, the third time. You're not imagining it. Now what?
First, expect the pause. Freezing isn't your body failing; it's your body loading, a brake on the motor system while you take in the scene. The fix is having the next move already decided. So here it is, decided now:
Don't Confront
Create Distance
Do Not Go Home
Official protective doctrine is blunt on all three. Stopping invites a confrontation you can't price. And home is the one address that upgrades a follower's file permanently. Drive to a police station, a fire station: anywhere staffed, lit, and public.
Distance, Record, Report
On the way, let the route confirm it: change direction, and watch what changes with you. Then capture what's in front of you: plate, color, make, description. You know the field note: what, when, where. This is the same note, with a follow-on.
Then report it. 911 while it's happening; the non-emergency line after. Get the officer's name and a copy of the report. Most people skip this because one incident feels too small, but you're the only person positioned to see the pattern, and the record is how the system sees it too.
Don't confront. Don't go home. Distance, record, report. Decide it today, so the day it happens, it's already decided.