When it comes to de-stressing, we are going to break it down piece by piece. There are many factors that impact the way we feel. These factors can be internal as well as external. And the way we respond to these factors will determine how much stress we experience. But let's assume we are already stressed out and we just want to feel normal again. What are some practical steps to get ourselves back together? Let's start by talking about your environment.
Environment: The environment we live in can have a big influence on us physically, mentally, and emotionally. Because of this, it is crucial that we create a relaxing space in our homes where we can escape the day's troubles. Too often people find their homes cluttered with chores needing to be done. If you've already had a long day at work, chances are you're not going to feel like cleaning afterward. The result is never-ending cycle that never gets the negative energy out of your personal space. How do we fix this? First you have to recognize that your home is a place of relaxation. Try to have at least one place in the home, preferably your bedroom, that can be designated as a healing space. We will talk more later on about how to transform you bedroom into such a space. Then schedule a set date to take the initiative to clean up your designated space. There should be no clothes on the floor, no papers scattered across the desk, and everything should be organized. The way your home looks is a reflection of how you feel. In order to start feeling better, your home will have to look better as well. Then you can be proud of your beautiful sanctuary.
Organizing Your Environment
Your environment has a huge impact on how you feel. So it is very important that we keep our living space un-cluttered and clean. Today, we are going to share a few tips so that you can turn a junky, disorganized room into a relaxing sanctuary.
Tips:
- Have a game plan for tackling your room. Outline what order you would like to do things in.
- Pick up items off the floor first. Sometimes I find myself tripping over stuff on the floor just to hang up stuff in my closet. Clear up the path so that you can walk through your room with ease. Being able to walk in an open space definitely relives some initial stress for me.
- Take out all the trash. Half empty water bottles, food wrappers, tags from new clothes, boxes from new shoes, get it all outta there! I usually take a large trash bag and go around the room throwing away all my trash and non-essential items.
- Gather clothes hangers (optional). If you have a lot of clothes to hang up, get a bunch of clothes hangers out of your closet and lay them out on your bed. Put your clothing on the hangers and set them to the side. Then make just a few trips to the closet to hang up your clothes instead of running back and forth for 1 piece of clothing.
- Roll instead of folding clothes (optional). If you have a lot of clothes that you prefer not to hang up, sometimes you can make more space by rolling your clothes instead of folding them. This is especially true for t-shirts, leggings, and underwear.
- Determine what you want each dresser drawer to contain. Remove all unnecessary items. You can buy drawer organizers to help keep various items separated.
Obviously this list doesn't cover everything that you need to do to have a clean room, but it is a great start. Once you have neatened up your room, we can get to the really fun part--aesthetics. We'll talk about this in our next post.
Next article: Prepping Your Environment + Aromatherapy Basics