It seems this issue is on the minds of several of our readers as well as my own. I just read a blog over at Bicycling Magazine’s reader blog area that was a total inspiration. Not about how to be safe, but about addressing fears - check it out over at http://rodale.typepad.com/changing_gears/.

I’m responsible for putting together the monthly Women’s Adventure e-newsletter (shameless plug - click here to sign up). This month, one of the items I came across for the newsletter had to do with a fund raiser in honor of Meredith Emerson, the hiker who was killed while on an outing near her home in Georgia. I had already heard about her murder, but I hadn’t paid much attention to the details. It was probably a one-in-million freak occurrence that she caught the attention of the man who killed her. But it makes a girl think. And it wakes up all those feelings of vulnerability that some of us fight down every time we venture out.

“Can we be safe outside?” is a question that doesn’t have a firm answer. Most of us will never be in any danger, but some will be injured, some will miraculously escape, and a few will die. I personally have to overcome my worrywart tendencies every time I get on my bike and ride. The statistics are on my side - I’ll probably be coming home safe and happy, but for some of us, overcoming fear is a daily challenge.

Coming up in our January newsletter is a reader’s story by Valerie Hess about how she overcame her learned fear of the outdoors. In our March print issue, there’s going to be a feature about German paraglider, Ewa Wisnierska, who was caught in a supercell storm while racing and survived being pushed by winds up to 10,000 meters in the air - it’s an absolute miracle that she lived - and she continues to compete in her sport. I think about our founder, Michelle Theall, out running or walking in every weather, despite difficulties with MS, because she wouldn’t, couldn’t be herself without going outside. All of them are women who step outside to do what they love, knowing intimately the danger they place themselves in. They go because they must go, because they would be lessened by giving in to fears. These women are my heroes - when my fear sings out, I think about them and let joy find me in the wild.