I've had two good sources for that very advice. In theater , depending on the character I was playing, I was directed to walk "with attitude" - upright, solid, don't mess with me !

And when I took a self defense course, the instructor said that walking tall and alert, conveying confidence and strength will, most of the time, keep you from becoming a victim. Predators tend to look for weak, non-observant prey.

A small house that is great for four humans!

Always.

I think it is the FEAR of hell (terrible experiences we don't think we'll survive) we should watch out for. Once the worse thing we can imagine actually happens (short of death or something truly horrific) we usually say to ourselves, "Oh, this really sucks," and we regroup, devise a plan, and move on. That's happened to me often. It sucked. I moved on.
As a stoic might say, realizing human resiliency is almost limitless, we lose our fear.
Maybe that's one take: don't be afraid of making a bad decision...the worst case-scenario is failure, and failure is no big deal.

Yea, though I walk in the valley of the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil, for I'm the meanest son of a bitch in the valley.

As i do!