What it looks like to be in a safe relationship: Expert shares insights

From dealing with conflicts to sharing our past traumas, here is an overview of what mature love looks like.

Relationships are safe haven for us to secure our emotions and create a healthy space for it to grow, thrive and evolve. Relationships between two people often take a lot of effort, acceptance and compromises to be made. From the firecrackers phase of the relationship to staying in love and accepting the truest version of the other person and creating a healthy space for both individuals to grow is a journey altogether. While some relationship fades with time, mature love often stays. Psychologist Nicole LePera, a day back, shared a list of things which creates a healthy and a happy relationship.

Nicole gave us an overview of what it looks like to be in a safe and secure relationship. Read below:

Boundaries: Boundaries are important in any relationship. In a mature relationship, the boundaries of both the people are respected at all times, and private things are never shared outside the boundary of the relationship.

Emotional past: Experiences and traumas that we have faced in life can be openly shared with the partner, without the thought of them ever using it against us.

Conflicts: Unlike what we think, conflicts are healthy. They help us in opening up newer perspectives and embracing the change that two people undergo in time. However, in case of conflicts, we should be able to take breaks in order to regulate the nervous system, and come back to it later.

Saying no: No is a sentence in itself, and in healthy relationships, we can say no whenever we feel something is not right for us.

Appreciated: A small appreciation goes a long way, and in healthy relationships, we are able to feel seen, heard and appreciated for who we are.

Perspectives: In mature love, our perspectives and opinions are respected and heard, without being mocked or shamed for feeling in a certain way.

Different opinions: We can have different viewpoints without having to undergo a conflict for the same.

Be yourself: Things which are meaningful to us, even outside the relationship, should be given space, as they bring out the best in us.