If you’re someone who has struggled with depression, suicidal thoughts, low self-worth, or simply feel like you don’t belong, my hope is that this series will provide you with the wisdom of knowing why we stay alive, the compassion to understand our struggles, and the tools to radically be yourself.
Why do we need to belong? Welcome to video two in my two part series of the Courage to live. Belongingness is something that we need, and there's no shame in that. Why it's so relevant to our well being and not just surviving, but thriving.
When we want to seek safety so that we can be ourselves, what we really need first is belonging. From that place of safety, there is so much that can happen when we feel safety. How do we access belonging? I'll talk about that in my next video.
Why do we need to belong? Hi. My name is Rachel Havocost. Welcome to video two in my two part series of the Courage to live. If you're just joining me now, I recommend that you go back and watch video one, which kind of outlines and defines the concept of belongingness, which is what we're going to be talking about in these first four videos of this two part series. So in this video, I want to talk to you about why we need to belong. What is it that belonging provides us? Right. So in the last video, I talked a little bit about how belonging is our survival mechanism.
It's an inherent human need, right? So we can honor and own that. Belongingness is something that we need, and there's no shame in that. So now I want to talk about what happens when we experience belonging and why it's so relevant to our well being and not just surviving, but thriving. So in the last video, I asked you to think about what experiences you've had, where you felt like you belong, and what feelings arise when you belong. One thing that comes up for me when I think about belonging, when I'm in the company of people who make me feel like I truly belong, the output that happens, what also occurs, is a sense of safety.
There's safety in me being who I am. There's safety in me expressing my emotions. There's safety in me showing up exactly the way I am in that moment without fear of judgment, without fear of rejection, and without fear of criticism that true belonging and acceptance creates a sense of safety. And from that place of safety, there is so much that can happen when we feel safety. We're allowed to create. We're allowed to experience joy. We're allowed to ask questions, we're allowed to make mistakes, we're allowed to experience things without fear of reprimand or judgment.
So much occurs when we feel safe. And so the positive thing that happens when we experience belonging is a lot more creativity, a lot more creation, a lot more joy, a lot more freedom, a lot more exploration. And so when we think about, you know, when we think about our mental health and we think about things that we stifle so much or things that we feel shame about, a lot of that has to do with not feeling safe. And so when we want to seek safety so that we can be ourselves or do the things that we want to do, what we really need first is belonging.
So then the question next is, how do we access belonging? Right? If the goal is to experience safety so that I can be free to create, free to express free to have joy. How do I get the belonging in the first place? I'm going to talk about that in my next video. But if you have any ideas, start to jot them down and brainstorm for yourself what it is that you can do that's in your power, in your control, to access belonging. See you next time.
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