After spending 8 hours of your day dealing with hectic traffic, busy office schedules, and tons of other chaotic aspects of your life, it is now time to come back home. Ideally, your home is supposed to be the safe haven, a tranquil space where you relieve all the stress you’ve accumulated throughout the day. But not all homes are tranquil. Some home environments are too chaotic that instead of lowering stress levels, they exacerbate it.
Stress can be detrimental to your health and emotional well-being. That is why even if you may not wipe it off completely from your life, you should always strive to maintain it at the bare minimum. To help you do that, here is a simple 6-point guide to creating a stress-free home environment.
1) Go Green
Start by adding some houseplants, both artificial and live plants. Artificial plants can be custom-made to your taste so that you can have something beautiful to look at and refresh your mind whenever you get home. Live plants, on the other hand, will not only brighten your living areas but also improve the air circulation in your interiors. Remember that live plants are the largest consumers of the harmful carbon dioxide gas and the largest contributors to clean oxygen gas in the atmosphere. Breathing clean air at all times helps you to relax.
When buying a new house from home listings, your realtor will most likely motivate you to redecorate the home and make it more environmentally friendly. That is the best advice any new homebuyer can ever get. Planting trees and flowers around your home bring natural beauty to your property and make it welcoming. You’ll always feel the urge to rush home from the dusty streets so that you can breathe the toxin-free air.
2) Reserve A Relaxing Space
If you have a spacious home, why not spare a room for your relaxing needs? Of course, this will not be easy if you have a family or if you have roommates. In that case, convert a corner in your bedroom or office to a relaxing corner. The key here is to have space where everyone in the home recognizes and respects as your space to relax in. Train your kids not to bother you when you’re in that space.
3) Calming Décor
Did you know that different interior décor colors have different effects on your mood? Well, they do. Shouting colors such as red, for example, can increase your anxiety during a stressful moment. Yellow can also have the same effect. The next time you redecorate your home, try any of the light shades of blue as all of them have a calming effect on people. Painting your home green will also aid your relaxation.
Another proven way of making your home stress-free is adding a relaxing canvas wall art. Inspirational wall art canvas, for example, will bring back your lost peace of mind during trying moments. You can order custom canvases, from Christmas, birthdays, to wedding-related art. Also, there are wall arts designed specifically for the kitchen, bedroom, and even hallway walls. It is all up to you to decide where it is needed most.
4) Disconnect From The World Sometimes
Many people contribute to the exacerbation of their own woes by surrounding themselves with tech devices- being in a constant connection with the outer world. When you spend six hours of your evening chatting on social media or watching TV, you miss out on quality alone time. It also denies you enough sleep, which contributes to increased stress. That’s not forgetting the detrimental effects of checking your mail for new work assignments or academic reports every now and then. Do yourself a favor and unplug from the outer world immediately you step into your house. Do it at least a couple of days a week.
5) Light Candles
Leave work behind and light some candles for the entire evening. Scented candles are particularly good at calming a stressed mind. You don’t need to be with your partner to do this.
6) Avoid Idleness
As the old adage goes, an idle mind is a workshop for the devil. Doing nothing for an entire evening creates room for stressful thoughts to cloud your mind. Push these thoughts out by doing small household chores- tidying up the floor, making the bed, attending to your lawn, washing dishes, and reading inspirational material. Create a routine that helps you achieve small but important things in life as that will give you a strong sense of accomplishment, wiping off the feelings of self-loathing.
While you’re here, check out our interview with legend Elle Macpherson.
