What is a safe space?
Safe spaces can be different for every, but the idea of a safe space is to have somewhere, be it a room, a place, a journal, or a confidant whom you feel you can truly be yourself with. Some one or somewhere you are comfortable to express your feelings. For some people safe places evolve over time the more they get to understand themselves and their mental health.

Why do I need a safe space?
Do I need a safe space? If this was a question put to me, the answer would always be “YES!!” . For people with mental health conditions or illness, it is not uncommon that we exacerbate our own unwellness if we do not let certain thoughts and emotions out. The process of getting locked into your own thoughts, over thinking one insecurity or issue that it eventually becomes all consuming. It soon becomes the determining factor of how you are coping or the measure by which you decide if you have  good mental health or not and also if you can get through the situation or not.

Where  do I find a safe space?
Safe spaces are not always easy to find and can be on a trial-and-error basis. You may find someone you think you can trust and confide in however they may be of no support or even betray your confidence. That does not mean stop seeking a safe place it simply means keep looking. Like one of the oldest sayings in the world “Rome was not built in a day” in the same vein safe spaces are not found or built in a day but trust that there is a safe space for you out there.
For the longest time I did not have a safe space. I had this fear of trusting anyone or trusting that putting my thoughts and feelings out there would be well received. The fear and anxiety of being judged was a massive barrier for me until I realised that keeping all these negative thoughts and feelings bottled up was like me poisoning myself. I was keeping myself safe from judgement but not safe from the thoughts I had that were much more dangerous and damaging than judgement.
Opening up is not an easy thing to do but when we think about not doing it we also need to think about the risk we put ourselves at by holding onto and feeding the negativity that keeps us from accepting ourselves, accepting support and accepting that we are as normal as the rest. If you find a place or a someone that feels like a safe space, start slow share things you feel will bring you the least judgement, be patients with yourself when it comes to how easily you find it to share.
“Nobody has the power to take two steps together, you can make only one step at a time.”