We at AGTraveler all hope that you are enjoying the redesign of our beloved site and our stream of new content. We have received some great feedback and have even more changes coming down the pike.

One thing that has stayed the same is our emphasis on personal safety. Any visitors to our site now know that we are pretty fanatical about this issue, and for legitimate reasons. I took some of our own advice this past weekend and hope to shine some light on why we are so committed to helping all goddesses protect themselves.

After much persistent (but loving) encouragement from our fearless leader Arden, I finally took a self-defense class with IMPACT Chicago. I stalled in taking the class because it was quite expensive and because--well--I didn't really feel like it.

Finally, my fears of being a single woman who lives alone drove me to sign up for the class at the last minute, and I went through the two grueling weekends of fighting, yelling, crying, laughing, cheering and everything in between.

As a sidenote, this post is to advocate self-defense but it's also about trusting your closest friends. Arden told me this experience was life changing, but lots of people say that about a lot of things so I didn't totally buy into it. She wasn't kidding about this one.

Self-defense is only partly about fighting techniques and strategies, which some of you may already know through your own endeavors. It is physical as well as deeply psychological and emotional. For me and my classmates, the class forced us to confront our deepest fears and to believe that we do have the strength to overcome them and defend ourselves. No easy task.

After the class, my friends and I talked about how the experienced changed us and gave us perspective. We realized how much we women are taught from the get go that we are the weaker sex and cannot/should not assert ourselves. Forget fighting. Too often, we learn that we shouldn't even raise our voices because people might think we are rude--or worse--too emotional and sensitive.

Let's not be naive. Sadly, we women may always be vulnerable to men in ways we simply cannot control. Yet, we found out that certain things that make us susceptible are nurture versus nature, and it isn't a foregone conclusion that we cannot do anything if we were attacked.

If for no other reason, that is why we recommend all women should take a self-defense class, whether or not you plan a trip abroad anytime soon: you learn skills so you can go through life knowing that you are not helpless. Keep in mind that learning self-defense absolutely does not mean you should take more liberties with your safety. Walking down dark alleys or streets, traveling alone, hitchhiking and leaving your drink alone with a stranger are still horrible ideas. But whatever your reasons for taking such a class, you will come out of it realizing that you are much stronger than you give yourself credit for being. And that's exactly what AGTraveler is all about: empowering women to travel the world.

I'm already on my friends' cases to take the next class in July. If this has resonated with you at all, we encourage you to visit Girls Fight Back and find a class near you. We tell you many times to spend extra money to take a cab, buy another drink or stay in a better hotel, just to be safe. This is no exception.

Stay safe, goddesses!