I think that is an insightful alternative and I think I overlooked it simply because it feel so normal/obvious to me. I'm naturally risk averse and I'd say that I have long since taken all the not-so-low hanging fruit of risk avoidance (neighborhood, car, certain sports, drugs and other health risks...). This seemed just obvious for me as a youth - but it did cause some social exclusion (which I didn't feel bad about as I had family and some friends).

See also http://lesswrong.com/lw/lx4/summary_and_lessons_from_on_combat/c68w for context.