Mental health is a massive part of modern discourse. You find it at school and universities, at work, and within your friendship group or family. Being open about your mental health is encouraged. You can give yourself a day to yourself if you feel you need to. There’s the chance for you to explain to others what you don’t feel up to socializing, and they should understand. 

However, many people’s current situation with lockdown and the ongoing pandemic means that there is another way that their mental health is impacted, and that is within their home. As you are spending so much time inside with no way to get out for too long, you’ve got to consider how your house and your living situation can affect your mental health, and take steps to adjust it correctly. 

Your Living Situation

Living situations can be tricky for everybody, and there is no right living environment to maintain excellent mental health. This is because everybody has different preferences. You may prefer to live alone, whereas others need daily human interaction to get them through the week 24 hours at a time. 

Conversely, living with people you don’t feel comfortable with, such as family or strangers, could impact your mental health. Not feeling comfortable in your home, the one place where you should feel comfortable at all times, can have ruinous effects on your mental health. Whether it’s because you don’t feel right leaving your room to eat or drink, or the absence of other people makes you feel lost and alone, your living situation is crucial to maintaining excellent mental health.  

Issues Around the House

Even if your living situation is comfortable, other issues around the house can impact your overall mental wellbeing. One of the primary problems is broken, malfunctioning, or damaged items. You might have a showerhead or a kitchen tap that drips continuously, there might be a build-up of yellow grease in the pipes that could cause clogged drains and further issues. 

Staying on top of problems will make your home more comfortable to live in. Otherwise, it will feel like there is always one problem after another, and you will never feel happy or safe at home, but instead just waiting until the next disaster strikes., 

Clutter and Mess

Messiness is something you can accuse everybody in a while, but the difference comes from how you cope with such messiness. While most people take an active approach to removing the mess, giving themselves a weekly cleaning schedule, and maintaining a tidy house, others don’t. 

It could be that you fall into this category, and that’s where your mental health is suffering. Indeed, clutter and mess could even be a symptom of your mental health problems, as you feel less motivated to maintain a tidy home. However, it’s essential to clean the house to clean the mind. So, even doing the dishes after eating or tidying shoes away onto the rack will make you feel better. 

Creative Space

Everybody needs somewhere to unwind. You need a room or part of the home where you can sit down, relax, and engage in something that makes you happy. Different people have various ways to take their minds off the stress of life, so you’ll need to find something that works for you. 

It doesn’t even need to be a creative space, just one where you can feel comfortable being as un[prodiucitvie as possible. If you love video games, then an area to fire up the console is a great start. Alternatively, if you prefer to chill and read, then a cozy little reading nook will be highly beneficial. 

A Natural Area

Something natural is always a part of people’s homes that is severely underappreciated. However, as both natural light and natural decorations, such as plants and flowers, can have a significant impact on happhttps://www.rtor.org/2018/07/26/how-light-improves-mental-health/iness and mental health, it is worth finding ways to introduce such remedies into your home. 

Furthermore, if you have a garden, then you can make the most of that when possible. Sitting in the garden and getting fresh air is miles better than feeling cooped up and even trapped in your room. It could have the potential to improve your mental health and make lockdown that little bit easier to deal with. 

Amenities, Entertainment, Essentials

While many people have ambitions to live in the middle of nowhere, away from both noise and noise, the reality of this isn’t always so fantastic. The further away from amenities, entertainment, and essentials, such as a store, the more likely you are to feel frustrated and trapped. 

This is especially true if you can’t drive, as public transport is irregular the further away from the city you live in. It may not seem like a major thing, but missing out on the convenience of stocking up quickly on your favorite snacks when you feel down can do a world of good. If you are too far away from anything to make the most of that, it could impact you negatively. 

Ease of Contact

Similarly, you’ve got to consider your proximity to your friends and family. During the age of lockdown and social distancing, you can’t see your loved ones as often as you’d like to, and Zoom or Skype are poor substitutes for the real thing. 

However, even without social distancing, ease of contact with others is a significant factor in the stability of your mental health. You could feel like you are missing out on the fun and enjoyment; you may frequently feel forgotten about. While this may not be true, at least to others, having no one to talk to about your problems will only make any negative feelings worse. 

Your House and Your Health

If there is one place where people should feel comfortable and happy, it’s their own home. But often it is not as simple as that. If you think that your home does more harm to your mental health than it does good, consider what aspects of those four walls affect your self-esteem and mental well being and see what you can do to change them.