Is your home your oasis? Your respite from the outside world? Your refuge? Or is it a major source of stress?
How awesome would it be to be able to change homes as we would outfits? Feeling frumpy? Slip on those amazing stilettos and find yourself in a hardwood paradise with shag rugs and ǖber-modern furnishings and sleek stainless fixtures. Feeling wound-up? Trade that studio at the intersection of Busy and Busier for a hammock on a wrap-around porch, open windows that let in a tropical breeze, and white linen curtains that dance on the wind.
As great as it would be to have a house to suit our every mood, many of us are “stuck” when it comes to our dwelling. Bound either by mortgages or leases, we need to work with what we’ve got. Luckily, the tactics we use to make ourselves feel better can be repurposed for our home!
Clean up: Just as a soothing bath or shower can be rejuvenating for you, a good scrub can make you feel better about your home, too. Cleaning is cost-effective and it can really change the way you feel about your space, especially if you’ve caught yourself staring at the bunnies collecting under the television stand thinking, I really should dust. Tackle that task and you’ll feel better about your house and you’ll also enjoy a sense of accomplishment.
Love your home exactly as it is: It’s easy to look at those stylized photos in magazines and catalogues and quietly, wistfully, wish for a better body, er, abode. Just as all those beauty magazines can make us feel like we don’t measure up, the amazing pictures of perfectly appointed homes can make us feel bad about our current habitat. Swear off those magazines and find a corner of your home that you really love. And if there’s an area you’ve been meaning to rehab, take it on.
Simple accoutrements: Something as simple and as inexpensive as a shower curtain or some new throw pillows can change the look of an entire room. Experiment with new accent colors. Employ some simple Feng Shui principles – put an inspirational image that indicates movement in the direction of your dreams in your eye-line when you walk into a room. Use purple, red, or gold in the far corner to represent and inspire wealth. A simple Google search will reveal many other actionable Shui-y tactics.
When you love your home, you can enter it and leave the stress of your day outside. Loving your home ensures it doesn’t contribute to your anxiety, but rather assuages it.
