As someone who’s been chaotically carrying anxiety – something I only recently traced back to the moment I became a mother – the concept of safety has become more layered, more fragile, more complex, in one word “complicated”.

Safety isn’t just a locked door or a trusted friend. It’s not only the absence of danger, but the presence of peace. And for me, that peace has become increasingly hard to locate. Space – whether it’s a room, the outdoors, time spent with friends, colleagues or family, or even the corners of my own mind – has often felt like something to navigate with caution rather than comfort.

At the beginning of the year, I made a quiet, bold promise to myself: I will actively choose to avoid or remove myself from spaces that threaten my happiness. It sounded simple. Empowering, even. But what happens when every space feels uncertain? When nothing and nowhere feels truly safe?

That question shook something loose in me.

Because if I’m constantly removing myself from unsafe spaces but not rebuilding safety within myself, then I’m always running.

That’s when it hit me: I have to practice feeling safe within my own being. I have to believe that I am a space I can trust. That I am the soft place I can land.

If I don’t trust myself to keep me safe, how do I trust anyone else to do it?

If I don’t feel rooted within, how do I expect to feel grounded without?

We weren’t built to live alone, fight alone, or carry burdens alone. That was never the design. But somewhere along the way, this survival instinct took over – this need to fight for ourselves all the time. And in that fight, I lost sight of my deeper purpose.

Ramadan came and went, and with it came something I had been craving without even realizing it: a deep sense of family, community, and camaraderie. It reminded me of the safety that can exist in shared spaces – when people come together with intention, humility, and heart.

So maybe it starts small. With soft rituals. With remembering. With returning to self.

Safety might not always be a place – it might be a practice. And maybe the more I practice it within, the more I’ll recognize it out there.

With that said, here’s to jumping on the ghibli trend train ❤ on this episode of practising safety within & without!

Love always,