Lighter & Brighter Series 03: “Home-Care”
It’s the last Monday of the month, which means it’s time for the next installment of the Lighter & Brighter series. The Lighter & Brighter Series is like a monthly book club discussion… but with small everyday shifts instead of books. If the month’s topic resonates with you, I’d love for you to shareany tips or tricks you have. The submissions will be featured anonymously in an upcoming newsletter, so we can all learn from one other.
“Home is the nicest word there is.” – Laura Ingalls Wilder
Growing up, my brothers and I used to love watching the show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. Do you remember it? The three of us span a wide range of ages and interests, so it was a rarity for us all to agree on a show. But when Extreme Makeover: Home Edition was on, we would gather around the TV and yell “move that bus!” as a deserving family saw their new dream home. The families’ exuberant reactions each week was one of the first insights I had into the power a sense of home can have on moods and well-being.
While I’ve never experienced something to the scale of an extreme makeover, I’ve felt the power of home on my own mood and well-being. For example, I remember being younger and feeling giddy to the point of not sleeping after moving around my bedroom furniture and getting a new bedspread for my birthday. It felt like a whole new room! And when I first moved to Chicago, my tiny 300-square-foot apartment became my haven and soft space to land as I navigated the highs and lows that came with a new job, city and lifestyle. Everything might have felt unstable and uncertain in my day-to-day life, but my apartment was a place I could keep orderly, calm and comfortable. And most recently, when COVID-19 turned our world upside down, returning home to my childhood home provided me a sense of peace and comfort even among the daily heaviness and uncertainty.
I even experienced this sensation recently. A few weeks ago, I finally gave in and purchased a desk for my apartment (found this one, which ended up being the perfect budget-friendly, space-saving solution I needed!). Up to until then, I had been working at my kitchen table and while it got the job done, I longed for some kind of physical separation between work and home life.
I couldn’t believe the difference in my mood thanks to the new desk and flow in my apartment! With the new desk, I sat down excited to work each day that first week even though things were hectic and busy.
I’m not alone in this feeling: according to this University of Exeter study, people who have control over their workspace design are happier at work, more motivated, healthier and up to 32 percent more productive. And author and designer Ingrid Fetell Lee has written previously about how simply moving things around disrupts the process of hedonic adaptation, or the decline in joy we find when things are consistent for a long period of time.
So, why did it take me almost 15 months to make a change and finally get a desk? While I love the end result of a well-designed space, do I love the process to get there? Not so much. So many decisions! And so many decisions that require spending money! I equate it to when you’re starting a workout routine. You know you want the end result (feeling better, more energy), but the path to get there (which workout? When? What do you wear? How hard is it?) is enough to make you not take action at all.
But what if there was another way? What if instead of striving for Pinterest-worthy spaces, we thought of taking care of our homes as an extension of self-care? Taking care of our surroundings in an effort to boost our moods isn’t just about purchasing décor or interior design. It can also mean using what we have in a new way or taking the time, even when work is on fire, to put away the dishes or hang up our clothes because we know the end result will lift our spirits.
If self-care is the practice of taking an active role in protecting one’s own well-being and happiness, maybe “home-care” involves taking an active role in ensuring our everyday surroundings contribute to our well-being and happiness, not subtract from it.
I wanted to write about this today because I don’t know about you, but there are three times a year when I feel particularly invigorated to organize and start fresh: one is right before fall (back-to-school season still gets me), another is right before the new year, and the third is right before summer.
With the holiday weekend this weekend, we are kicking off the glorious season of summer and as such, you might be feeling a desire to shake up your surroundings a bit. If that sounds like you, but you’re worried about getting overwhelmed and giving up, check out these four ways to approach “home-care” that, in my opinion, make the experience easy and enjoyable:
Four Ways to Make “Home-Care” Easy:
- Prioritize
- Decrease the amount of stuff
- Identify annoyances and opportunities
- Infuse what matters most
1) Prioritize: Like this article says, you can easily burn a lot of energy if you attack the process randomly or attempt to focus on every room at once. Instead, start small. Think about where you are clocking the most hours right now and where you want to invest your energy. This will be different for everyone, especially if you share your space with other people.
2) Decrease the amount of stuff: The topics of decluttering and organization are delicate topics. Many experts approach with a one-size-fits-all approach, but truth is that we all have different preferences. I learned this firsthand watching my brothers share a room growing up. While one was seemingly unbothered by piles of stuff accumulating around him, the other preferred everything in a tidy order. Neither was right or wrong, they just had different preferences. However, I think one thing we can all agree on is that we all have an abundance of stuff constantly accumulating in our spaces. So, once you have your priority space to focus on, I think the best place to start is with a quick inventory of the things in that surrounding. Is there anything you can get rid of? When what’s left is the stuff that matters or only the things you really use, you may see the space in a whole new light or get a better idea altogether for how to use it.
3) Identify annoyances and solutions: Once the first two steps are complete, the fun begins. Thinking of your priority, newly decluttered space, ask yourself, how could I make things happier and smoother? Or put another way, what’s annoying you about the experience of the space right now and are there any realistic ways to improve it? For example, I used to keep all my workout clothes stuffed into a dresser drawer. I’m a morning workout person, so many early mornings included me becoming frustrated because I couldn’t easily find what I needed. When thinking of a way to make things happier and smoother, I decided to get one of those hanging shoe racks to store my workout clothes in. Now I just easily grab and go in the morning for much more enjoyable everyday experience. Maybe your solutions include something simple like getting a longer phone charger, re-arranging your kitchen cabinet to display your everyday plates and cups front and center, or putting a hook by your door for your coat.
4) Infuse what matters most: Finally, for a finishing touch, think about what you want this space to feel like. Is it comfort? Cleanliness? A sense of joy or playfulness? Once you know what matters most for this particular space, you can find ways to infuse that feeling with little touches (candles, blankets, photos, plants, etc.). I had a revelation recently that for as much as I love reading and books, I had no books on display in my apartment! In an effort to make a section of my apartment feel inspiring and joyful, I collected all my books that were tucked away and put them on display. I sorted the books by color and that rainbow bookshelf, which came from things I already had, is now one of my favorite things about my apartment. I smile each time I see it.
What do you think? Do you have any “home-care” tips to share? Would love to include any thoughts, tips or tricks and you share here in the newsletter at the end of next month.
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