duck and cover or pain

when i was growing up I had to know what was going on all around me. i had to learn to "feel" if someone was behind/beside me. I had to learn that if she was close to me i had to be prepared to be hit. I found out that if i kept her at a distance and have room to run or duck or tighten myself so the pain would not hurt as bad. I had to learn to think about what was going on around me, who was around and what had happened in her day so that i was prepared for her to come at me and how hard, how long and what started her anger so that i could defuse her anger or change her mood or to keep her from using me to take it out on. Sometimes that worked and most times it did not.