The ability to observe and understand your environment is called situational awareness. For those who carry a concealed weapon, situational awareness is when you take in your surroundings to look for potential threats.
When carrying a concealed firearm, it's crucial to be aware of everything that's going on in your environment. A situation can turn volatile in a matter of seconds. 
The Process of Observation
Depending on what sort of concealed carry permit you have and state or jurisdiction you are in, you may be carrying your weapon with you to a variety of different locations and under varying circumstances. As crucial as the right handgun and holster are, there are mental aspects of personal safety of which to be aware.
Colonel John Boyd fought in the Korean War as an F-86 pilot and created the OODA Loop to assess situations for perceived threats. OODA stands for: Observe, orient, decide, and act. Here are some more details about the different steps in that process.
- Observe – Take in all data from the surrounding area. This is often difficult in a dynamic, changing situation, but watch people and traffic. Listen carefully.
- Orient – This is the analysis phase of the process, and you must take in any cultural biases and leave room for previous experiences of others that might make them act out of turn.
- Decide – At this stage, you decide upon a course of action, creating a critical response to the situation.
- Act – Follow your analysis and decision-making with action.
The OODA Loop is meant to place anyone who uses it in a proactive position. Sometimes circumstances like mental or physical fatigue can make it difficult to assess the situation objectively.
Levels of Awareness
There are other ways to be situationally aware while carrying. Jeff Cooper is a former marine and creator of many handgun safety protocols and the four universal gun rules.
Cooper also created a color-coded system that delineates the different levels of awareness in a heated situation. They are easy to remember, with each stage coded as white, yellow, orange, or red, with white being the most mellow and red being high-alert. Here's some more about Cooper's particular levels of situational awareness.
- White – Relaxed and unaware.
- Yellow – Relaxed, yet aware. This is the minimum level you should be when carrying a weapon in public.
- Orange – Threat identified. Assess the situation, verify threats, and evade if possible.
- Red – Threat verified and actively menacing. Employ the necessary response to a threat.
An excellent handgun with premium accessories can help you neutralize a threat, but having a gun is only half of the battle. Situational awareness comprises the most critical aspects of personal defensive strategies.
NOTE: It is impossible to maintain orange or red alert status indefinitely. You body physically can’t maintain the levels of adrenaline and the mental alertness required to sustain that sort of alert level constantly.
Strategies for Optimal Situational Awareness
Ways to hone your situational awareness include discarding distractions and extraneous factors of the environment, putting yourself in a smart position, and reading anything in your environment to stay as present as possible.
Ignore Distractions
One of the most prevalent distractions is most likely in your purse or pocket. Smartphones are more like pocket computers than phones since they do a lot more than just call people.
Even a few seconds of looking at your phone can cost you. An average shooter can locate a target, draw their weapon, aim, and fire in as little as three seconds, less time than it takes to pull up your social media app.
As best you can, when in public and in any situation that feels off, maintain concentration on the scene at-hand, not on the internet. 
Cancel Out People
Canceling people out may sound cruel, but all you're shedding is anything in the current situation that doesn't help you assess what action you need to take. Every scenario has an ebb and flow; people come and go, even if the perceived threat remains.
When you're carefully assessing an area, it's crucial to discard any data that your brain doesn't need to be concerned with. Notice them all, evaluate them, and then, if you feel as if they're not a threat, discard them to let your mind focus on what matters.
Position Yourself Well
When you're evaluating your situation, place yourself in a position that is safe, has an easy escape route, and gives you an excellent view of all the action.
Standing or sitting with a wall at your back cuts down your observation space by half and precludes any sneak attacks.
When seated at a restaurant, snag a seat that gives you a clear view of the door so you can see the other patrons entering and exiting the establishment. Once you do this a few times, picking a table with excellent observational angles becomes second nature.
Aisle seats in theaters or auditoriums are a great way to enhance your observation area because they are usually on either side of a large room and can afford you a great view of everything in the middle. Aisle seats also make it easy to leave the room quickly if something occurs.
Read Items When You're Out and About
It's easy to slip into a mental limbo and not notice anything when you're in public. There's nothing wrong with being blithely unaware of your surroundings unless you're carrying. When you're carrying a concealed weapon, you owe it to yourself and others to be at the Cooper Color Code's yellow level.
Reading helps you focus on what’s going on in the present moment. It can be anything from bumper stickers to street signs, and it can help your mind stay sharp. 
The Takeaway
It's crucial to remain vigilant when you're in public and are carrying a concealed weapon. Although state protocols regarding carrying handguns have become more relaxed in recent years, you still need to remain observant.
Along with maintaining a vital level of engagement and awareness of your situation, you also need to keep calm as you monitor your surroundings. Taking in all possible outcomes, you need to be at your calmest and most rational when deciding what course of action to take.
At We The People Holsters, we take handguns and their accessories as seriously as you do. With custom, American-made holsters and accessories, you'll never be left in the lurch in a precarious situation.