Your environment can play many roles in how it affects your mental health. Your mood can have a direct impact on your surroundings. Most of the time it can be hard to have control in our outside environment but the inside, our home, can sometimes be a little easier to change. Our lives can get busy, and it can sometimes make our home busy with clutter, overflowing laundry, and unopened mail on the counter. This can also make our minds busy and even trigger anxiety. Creating a calm space at home can be beneficial, especially for anxious people.
How to Create a Calm Space at Home
- Find an area at home where you can designate this space that gives you a sense of calm. Whether is a corner of your room, by a window, or on an outside back patio- this space should define what a calm space means to you.
- Next, bring some of your favorite things to that area. This might be a cozy blanket, a candle, a cup of tea, a journal, or a book.
- If possible, avoid harsh lighting and look for more natural light
- Most importantly, keep it simple. The main goal is to create a comfortable area that feels calming for you.
Focus on Your Senses
When creating a calm space at home, it helps to focus on homing in on your senses. It should be visually relaxing to you. Create your favorite smells with candles or plants. Bring in music or keep it silent. Have some blankets or something that you can touch to ground yourself. Bring some water or tea and a snack with you to this space.
Mind and Body
Our mind and body are connected. Relaxing the body, relaxes the mind, and vice versa. Making a calm space at home for yourself does not have to be a lot of work and it shouldn’t cause you more stress. It should be a place you look forward to going to when you need a minute to be alone and ease your anxiety. Creating a calm space at home if you’re an anxious person, can be as easy as a little rug on the side of your bed. Many people make “calm spaces” in their heads to go to when they need to bring themselves back to center. In addition, creating that safe place outside of your head to realign your body can be just as helpful.
If you are experiencing anxiety and would like more support, please reach out to one of our Rise Counseling Therapists in Bethesda.
