The Search for Safety

One of our most basic needs as a human being is the ability to feel safe not just in our environments, but in our own skins. It’s the second rung on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, just above food, shelter, oxygen, water, and basic body functions. In order to be a functioning citizen in society we first have to feel safe at home and within ourselves.

The fact that safety in homes, let alone emotional and mental stability, is such a foreign concept to so many people leads to the belief that we’re not meeting that basic need. It also means many more suffer from poor mental health than choose to admit.

I support the efforts to stifle the Coronavirus, but we have a pandemic much larger than it is, killing 8 million¹ people globally every year: mental illness. This puts it between Ischaemic Heart Disease and Stroke at 2nd leading cause of death worldwide.

I can’t pretend that it isn’t the root of so many of the issues, not just our country, but the entire world. I feel I have been called to help people to understand mental health…not just their own, but other’s. Yet, it’s such a difficult conversation to have. Calling people out on their cognitive dissonance, narcissistic tendencies, and other abusive, yet commonly accepted behaviors will only create more problems. There's a fine line between helping and pushing, teaching and righteousness. I’m a peaceful person. I don’t like conflict. I have been trying to find the boundaries between doing good and letting the seed fall where it will. I am finding my voice, my path of following peace in such a personal and raw topic. And that’s where safety comes back into play.

While I am learning to be led in these delicate efforts, I am trying to focus on the only true thing I have control over, myself. My family and friends provide physical, financial, and emotional safety. Their love and support are my most treasured gifts. However, I have found even within the midst of this safety & contentment I often struggle to find peace. I could lose any of these at any moment, and that is completely out of my control. It is in my faith that I have found my peace, my true safety. Over and over, I surrender it all to God and find the solace in knowing I am loved no matter what, and all things work for the good.

I pray that I can project that safety out for others to find, so they too can feel heard, validated, and safe.

¹ (Walker ER, McGee RE, Druss BG. Mortality in Mental Disorders and Global Disease Burden Implications: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. JAMA Psychiatry. 2015 Feb 11. Doi: 10.001/jamapsychiatry.2014.2502.)