Most of us are chronically stressed to varying degrees. When we come home, we want to relax, decompress, and let some of that stress go. Unfortunately, our home environments aren’t always the most relaxing or comforting. But there are some things that you can change to make your home more stress relieving.
How to Make Your Home More Stress Relieving
These are some ways that you can make your home more relaxing and capable of relieving your stress.
- Install an outdoor kitchen. Installing an outdoor kitchen might be exactly what you need to relieve stress more reliably. It’s a bit of an investment, but one that can pay off in many respects. With an outdoor kitchen, you’ll be able to cook and eat outside more easily, getting access to more sunshine and fresh air, which can boost your mood. Outdoor kitchens are also a great opportunity to invite more people over and host more frequent gatherings, and it’s been shown that socializing with friends and family members is an excellent form of stress relief. If you don’t have the budget or space for an outdoor kitchen, you can at least invest in a grill and/or an outdoor gathering area where you can capitalize on some of these benefits.
- Create more open spaces. If your home is closed off, or there aren’t many available paths from one room to another, it might feel restrictive and claustrophobic. If this sounds applicable to your house, consider creating more open spaces. Depending on the nature of your house, this might require you to simply move some furniture out of the way, or you may need to invest in heavier renovations, such as eliminating walls. If your house has more open space, it will feel bigger, more accessible, and more relaxing.
- Deep clean. The psychological impact of a dirty house is bigger and more negative than most people imagine. To make matters worse, it’s not always obvious when your house is dirty or messy. If you feel stressed or uncomfortable in your home, it might be a sign that it’s time to declutter and deep clean. And if you don’t feel like doing these things on your own, consider hiring an expert to help you. Once your house is clean and in better order, you’ll likely be able to relax more effectively.
- Paint the walls. Sometimes, a fresh coat of paint can make your house feel cleaner, more vibrant, and renewed. It’s a relatively inexpensive, accessible way to improve your home, and it can help you feel more connected to almost any space. Keep in mind that the colors of your walls can have a profound effect on your psychology; choose the right color for the right room so that you can establish exactly the mood and tone that you want.
- Allow more natural light. We all benefit from exposure to natural light. It has the potential to boost our mood, relieve stress, and even help us stay healthy in a number of regards. Try to allow more natural light however you can; maximize the value of your home’s biggest windows, keep the curtains open, and spend more time in rooms that receive the most natural light.
- Invest in indoor plants. You should also invest in indoor plants throughout your house. Indoor plants can make you feel less stressed and generally happier, and some studies suggest they can also carry health benefits.
- Make a space that’s all your own. If you don’t already have one, create a space that’s all your own. Segmenting a corner of a room to serve as an office, for example, can give you more independence and opportunities to focus on yourself.
- Establish different vibes for different rooms. You experience a constellation of different moods, and you deserve to be in a room that matches your preference at any given time. Accordingly, consider establishing different vibes for different rooms in your house.
- Rearrange the furniture. The simple art of rearranging the furniture can have massive mental benefits. Try a number of different combinations to see what feels best to you.
- Fix whatever is bothering you. If your home isn’t helping you relax, it might be because something specific is bothering you, such as a hole that needs to be repaired or an ugly fixture that you’ve always hated. Consider fixing these issues once and for all.
Enjoying Your Home Environment
Improving and making changes to your home aren’t going to make all the stresses of your life disappear. They are going to eliminate your hard days or the occasional dark moments in your life.
However, they can give you a more enjoyable, less stressful environment that you can use to decompress, refocus, and ultimately set yourself up for better health and wellness.
