How To Turn Your Home Into a Safe Space
Our homes should be places of comfort and safety, not just physically but emotionally too. We all want to feel safe, secure, relaxed, and welcome in our own homes. The world can be quite a daunting and intimidating place at times, so wanting to create a home environment you can truly enjoy is easy to understand. Whether you want to install a home lift so you can feel physically safe getting around the house or if you want your home to be a place of emotional security, in this article, we look at what it means to have a home that is a safe space for you and your family and how you can make it happen.
Encourage Openness, Communication, and Honesty
If you don’t feel like you can be open and honest in your own home, an uncomfortable atmosphere can start to fester. People feel safe and happy when they know they can be themselves and trust those around them, especially their family. So, in an attempt to create a safe space at home, encourage openness and honesty between one another. Promote communication instead of bottling up feelings, dialogue with your partner or children instead of jumping to criticism and judgement. When we feel like someone is instantly going to criticise us instead of trying to understand and talk, that feeling of walking on eggshells in your own home can emerge.
Create a Forgiving Environment
Forgiving those around us is an expression of love. If we are harbouring ill feelings towards those in our household or one of your family members knows that you won’t let go of the anger towards them for a mistake they have made, your home certainly won’t feel safe emotionally. If everyone is on the same page, however, that when our family makes mistakes or does something wrong, we forgive, learn, and move on, then you will create an environment that cultivates security, trust and honesty. If you know someone will be forgiving towards you, you know you can talk to them about anything and that your thoughts, feelings, and weaknesses will be accepted at the place you call home.
Make a Home That Reflects Your Personality
Part of feeling safe at home can certainly come from the physical environment that we create around us. By decorating or designing our homes in a particular way, that is pleasing to us personally, we can promote feelings of security and comfort that can be of great aid to us mentally and emotionally during the trials that life presents.
Create a Sanctuary Within The Home
You could also consider making a safe space within your home, somewhere that is just for you or that your family can take turns enjoying. Sometimes it really pays to have a space you can retreat to for a little while, close the door and calm down, especially if you are sharing a bedroom with someone.
Install a Home Security System
Feeling physically safe at home is an equal part of the equation. If we don’t feel physically secure and protected, it’s very difficult to relax, let down our guard and enjoy home life. While having a home lift might make us feel safe if we have limited mobility, it can also be well worth our time to invest in a home security system. We don’t all have the luxury of living in an environment we truly trust and feel safe in, so the peace of mind that security cameras and alarms bring can be a big help.
Stay Present
Another approach to turning our homes into safe spaces is by learning to ground ourselves and stay in the present. Learning to reconnect with the world around us in a time of emotional turmoil or anxiety can be a great self-soothing exercise, that when practiced, can help cultivate a safe environment:
We practice certain skills related to the senses as these can have a significant impact on our emotions. You could try reading a book, observing nature, baking, deep breathing, wearing comfortable clothing, and listening to music.
Banish Anger From Your Home
Have you ever felt relaxed and safe in an angry environment? It’s certainly not going to make your home feel like a safe space for you or anyone else living there. We are all human, we all feel anger and let our emotions get the better of us but doing our best to banish anger from our homes can go a long way to creating the home environment we desire.
Practice makes perfect in this regard. If a discussion is starting to feel heated, take a breath. If you know a conversation is heading towards an angry argument, change the subject. If you start to feel angry and that you might lash out, leave the room. Encourage family members to practice these techniques, provide outlets for pent up energy like sports and hobbies, and when people have calmed down, return to pressing matters in a calm manner.
If those living in your home come to believe that no one will respond to them with anger but love and patience, your house will start to feel like a much safer environment for all.
Tips for Making Our Homes a Safe Space
- Encourage openness, communication, and honesty
- Create a forgiving environment
- Make a home that reflects your personality
- Create a sanctuary within the home
- Install a home security system
- Stay present
- Banish anger from your home
None of the tips listed above might seem revolutionary but these simple and good ways of living can have an enormous impact when put into practice. So, if you feel like your home isn’t the safe environment that you want it to be for you and your family, try implementing some of the above. You just might create that emotionally and physically safe space you’ve always wanted.
