Reality is hard to face.
When we were kids, we encountered the harsh world that was before us. We faced all kinds of dangers from insults to a few scrapes and bruises. Some of these come from people we trust, but others can come from complete strangers.
Some of us eventually develop resistance to the negativity while others have to live with it for the rest of their lives.
There will always be people willing to make you feel down, but are you going to let them win by letting their actions eat inside you? There is always a safe space. You just need to find it.
For college students, they can easily find a safe space on campus.
This is why centers like the LGBQT+ and Multicultural Affairs are providing advice that could teach students about how to face the world in the years after college.
California State University, Long Beach houses several organizations that also act as safe spaces. These spaces existed long before the rise of the “political correctness” climate.
The organizations and the campus are providing ways to give students self-confidence and teaching them how to prepare for the long road ahead after college.
James Sauceda, the director of Multicultural Affairs, said his organization provides workshops about handling tough situations regarding one’s culture, sex, or religious background.
We shouldn’t have to, but it’s a part of reality. The world isn’t always filled with sunshine and frolicking bunnies hopping through a field of marigolds.
And when it’s not, we retreat to our safe space.
It helps to come to a group that houses a person’s interest and corroborates with their views. Students go to safe space due to different circumstances, some more drastic than others.
But as soon as students graduate from the university, where can they find the safe space?
At our homes where we’re supposed to feel the safest, that environment can easily be broken. Whether it’s coming out to a disapproving family, or being the victim of cyber-bullying over the internet, actions can eat us on the inside throughout our entire life, but at the end, we should eventually get used to it.
A person’s safe space isn’t just found in an institution constructed by a like-minded collective. A safe space is whatever space an individual wants to feel secure in. They have the power, the idea, and the behavior to determine where it can be.
They also need to be prepared for how rough the world is. That’s just reality.
But, until one finds it in themselves to exist in a safe state of mind, resources like those on campus will be here to help.