The common factor with all these categories of “gigs” is this: fundamentally the individual does not feel safe or have trust in themselves to be authentic or vulnerable. As a consequence, they perform their “gigs” as a way to cope and get their needs

met in ultimately unhealthy ways. These behaviours lead to codependent relationships with others, which establish a platform for communication and interaction where all participants default to perform their own respective “gigs,” and together, collectively, continually feed the cycle of pretense that undermines the development of an authentic Safe Space for everybody.

Our beliefs feed our “gigs,” which are hidden behind the masks we wear and the lies we tell ourselves to protect and perpetuate the “gigs,” which in turn validates our unexamined beliefs. This dysfunctional cycle keeps us locked into a place where we seek a false place of safety that resides outside of our own selves.

In our experience, in order to break this ultimately destructive cycle, one must have the courage to identify and ultimately dissolve the masks we wear. The irony of this journey towards an authentic Safe Space is that the masks we wear prevent us from getting what we actually want more of