What makes you feel safe? And how do you create spaces that feel safe? Often, we find ourselves in spaces that do not help us feel safe and secure as the space is not inclusive of different types of people. Going into spaces where you do not feel welcome or safe then impacts your emotional wellness. You might find you have to adapt who you are and what you say to fit in that environment. You might find that you face criticisms and distance from people in spaces where inclusion is not at the core. That all has an emotional toll.

Contrast that with environments where you feel welcomed. Think about places where you feel you do not have to hide things about yourself, where you feel that you do not have to fit in to be there. In environments like that, where differences are celebrated, you do not need to feel emotionally tired by the space. It feels welcoming. And that all contributes to emotional wellness.

Five ways that inclusive environments nurture your emotional wellness

1. Your self-worth

Emotional wellness is rooted in a feeling of security, feeling valued and feeling respected for who you are. Creating environments where people are not judged, discriminated against or mistreated for any differences, creates that feeling of worth in yourself. That in turn contributes to your feelings of your own self-worth. This then means that you feel less stress and anxiety so your feeling of your own worth increases.

2. Your community

Creating a sense of belonging helps people to connect with many different types of people, and this creates inclusive communities. People feel connections to others, and feel able to share different thoughts and feelings. In inclusive communities you see people sharing thoughts, ideas and helping each other. You see people making connections.

Just take a look at the City Girl Network groups and you see this happening every day. This creates communities where people feel welcomed, and they welcome other people to join in. These connections and communities help us all to feel emotionally connected, supported and well. 

3. Your whole self

These positive ways in which we connect with people help us to develop deeper relationships and connections. What happens when we are not feeling positive or well though? If we can connect with people authentically, then we can bring our whole selves to these communities. We will not feel a need to mask or hide things that are happening in our lives. This helps us to share vulnerabilities, challenges and be our whole selves. And this helps us feel nurtured and emotionally well. 

4. Your resilience

Even with a strong community and purpose in what you are doing, there will be times when you face challenges. You will meet people who want to criticise you, say things to undermine you, or you may face personal, family, or other challenges along the way. Focusing on creating inclusive environments means that when you meet challenges, you will feel more resilient to face these situations. If you know you have a community to back you up, then facing detractors feels less of an emotional struggle. You will be able to develop ways to move away from situations and people who are not including you. 

5. Your growth

When you feel included, valued, and connected, this creates space for you to grow in different ways. At Watch This Sp_ce we talk a lot about why it is important for all employers to look at how to create inclusive environments for employee wellbeing. There is another side to this too, when people feel included, they perform better in their roles, people are happier, and want to stay longer in their roles.

We say this to organisations no matter what the size. If you’re a small business or a sole-trader, thinking about creating inclusive environments, communications, and making connections with different people will help you to grow yourself and your business. You will feel more emotionally strong to approach these things and grow into different areas. 

Feeling safe to be yourself, and to feel included has a positive impact on our emotional wellness in so many ways. We spend a lot of our time in different spaces, so thinking about what environments help you feel nurtured and included helps us all with our emotional wellness. 

Words by Mo Kanjilal, Co-Creator at Watch This Sp_ce and Co-Author of The Inclusion Journey

To find out more about how we help people to feel included and create inclusive spaces go to www.watchthisspace.uk.

This article is part of our Wellness Budget campaign, sharing different ways that the City Girl Network audience can spend their money, time and energy on improving their health and wellbeing.

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