Finding Peace at Home
Just the other day I was talking with my brother about the last year and how my mental health has been impacted.
If I had to guess, I’m sure many of you have had your own struggles over the last year. In 2020, the company I work for, like many others, moved to a remote workforce, meaning I was now working from home!
As grand as that sounds, it has come with many challenges I wasn’t quite expecting. I mean, we all dream of working from home right? I was thrilled to work from home!
We live in a small three bedroom house with no extra space in our other areas, so I setup my little ‘office’ on one wall in my bedroom, threw up some inspirational quotes, and got to work.
To be honest, I am not the most organized person. On any given day you will find toys strewn all over the house, clothes on the bathroom floor, and a table full of clutter. This is me living my truth, so y’all don’t judge!
What I have realized though, is that what was once easily ignored between working in the office and bedtime, is now in my face, ALL. DAY. LONG. The toys, the unmade bed, the clutter on the counter and table, it is all slowly driving me to insanity.
So one day, it just hit me, my brother and I were talking about mental health and BAM. No wonder I’m feeling stressed out and frustrated, I spend all day at home seeing all the things I haven’t completed yet. I wanted to immediately jump in and demo my entire house, to change my life and how I felt RIGHT NOW. In that moment, I started feeling overwhelmed and stressed out. So, I took a pause, took a breath and remembered it is okay to start small. You don’t change your life in one day.
Creating a peaceful home is kind of like dieting. All the experts say it’s not about going on a crazy fad diet, it’s about making small changes every day to improve your health and lifestyle.
Take it day by day and eventually we will get where we want to be!
“A chaotic environment creates a chaotic mind.”
Start Small
Change one small thing. You don’t have to change all your habits in one day or rearrange your entire house. I have never been someone who makes my bed every day, but that’s the first thing I started doing. I make my bed in the morning and that has helped my environment feel less chaotic. Starting with one small change and then building up those changes to create a new lifestyle is how we accomplish our goals!
A chaotic environment creates a chaotic mind.
Do one thing every week.
My garage is a nightmare and I am always embarrassed anytime someone has to go in there. It is filled with boxes, random junk tossed in, and an absurd amount of laundry. Do I need to do the entire garage in one day? Absolutely not! Instead, I washed some laundry and made sure I actually put it away when it came out of the dryer. Then, I made a plan to tackle a few things throughout the coming weeks like organizing the cleaning supply shelf and moving the Christmas boxes to the shed.
Get rid of things you do not want/need.
I’ll admit it, I am a hoarder. My husband tells me this every. single. day. I always think to myself ‘maybe I will use this one day’. LIES. All lies. I know full well I most likely won’t use it, I just feel weird getting rid of stuff. Don’t be like me.
The most important part of decluttering your home and finding peace, is the DECLUTTER part. Whether it be toys your kiddos never play with, those clothes you never wear, the pile of mail you keep for some reason.
Take those things and either sell them, donate them, or trash them.
Have something to look forward to.
Making your home a happy place relies heavily on doing things at home that make you happy. Plan something each week that you can do at home whether it be family DIY pizza dinner, movie night, binge watching your fave T.V show (speaking of which, what are y’all watching??), or something else that you love doing at home. Finding something you can look forward to gives you a little excitement and fun associated with your home.
If all I ever did at home was laundry and dishes…..yea I’d probably find somewhere else to go – heaven knows I love procrasinating.
Give yourself a break.
One of my..uhh…amazing… qualities (living my truths remember), is that I am extremely controlling. So inevitably, when something doesn’t go as planned, I often have a hard time and beat myself up about it.
If there is anything we know about the universe it’s that things are going to veer from the plan ALL. THE. TIME.
PIVOT! Strangely enough, that is the hardest lesson of all. Giving yourself grace when you make a mistake or something doesn’t go as planned.
Instead of beating yourself up, take a breath and start again. Nobody ever got anywhere by giving up.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m no expert. I’m just another hot mess express living and learning. What’s your best tip for finding peace in your home? Let me know in the comments!
