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Strangely, I've gotten to the point where I feel a little undressed if I am not carrying......

I was glad too. Mainly that I had options which included projecting an unexpected response to the BG attempt to close distance. He started his approach at 15 feet, and I had him stopped and in doubt at 10 feet. Call it situational awareness, intuition, or a feeling, it is good to pay attention to the warnings. I was walking in from far out in the parking lot, but had noticed this individual early. He didn't have packages, yet was not approaching the store or searching for his car. He was looking around at people and appeared slightly nervous despite his being 6' 4" and leanly strong. Though others were closer, he observed my path and altered his when I adjusted mine away from him. Others were closer if he had a question to be answered, therefor there was no good reason to approach me. When he made a 90 degree cut towards me and called out to stop me, he was at 15 feet, inside of the 21 feet comfort zone, so I raised my left hand across my body with palm facing him. My right hand had already cleared my BUG from its pocket holster, and I felt I could fend him off with my left hand and clear my pocket with the BUG if necessary. Without breaking stride I said Stop, I have no time for you! He had a very confused look and then notice my right hand even though there was no indication of what was in my pocket. He had closed to 10 feet, but stepped straight back and whirled away without taking his eyes off of me. I put more distance between us until I was comfortably away. I notified customer service as I entered the store and they called police to check it out. He had robbed someone else and escaped within the 5 minutes it took local police to arrive.

This forum has helped me prepare.

If anyone remembers my admittedly short history on this forum, It took some while for me to progress from obtaining CHL, to pondering how best to conceal, to spending more time at the range, to occasionally carrying, and finally to having either my primary or secondary firearm present daily. I've already been happy that I carry, when a non-Caucasian person in a Walmart parking lot decided that I looked like a victim. Fortunately it was mid afternoon, and he was able to re-evaluate his position with me commanding him to stop his approach while clearing my secondary firearm from its pocket holster, but only showing him a partially exposed back of my hand, the remainder of my BUG still concealed by my pocket. When he took a step back and spun his back to me, the threat was ended. Amazingly, he managed to rob someone else in the 5 minutes that it took police to arrive.

As some on here have already said, it's nice to have a CHL since it gives you the opportunity to carry if you choose to. For some of us it proceeds from "nice" to "necessary" due to others actions. No one here can tell you that you will make the right decisions, but at some point you will hopefully trust your own self to do so. In the end that is what will make you an effective daily protector of your own self and perhaps those around you should the need arise. At least you will give yourself the option to choose rather than ceding the decision to the bad guys of the world.

Best of luck to you in your CHL journey!