Decorating your Home to Calm your Anxiety

Anxiety is an old friend of mine. It hitched a ride with Depression some years ago and both remain as unwanted house guests in my life. It's funny how many times I'll mention in passing to a girlfriend that I struggle with one or both of these issues and they'll return, "Oh yeah. Me too." My depression is one of the main reasons I decorate with a lot of colors and bright patterns in my home. Internally, I live in a very dark grey world. And while Rustic Farmhouse and Grey-everything are all the rage in home design and decor - I'll pass. I definitely shop, decorate, and design my home so that it makes me feel happy, calm and connected to those around me. So if you struggle with anxiety or depression to, let me share with you some ways that decorating your home can calm your anxiety and help you design your best life!

3 Ways Decorating Your Home Can Help Calm your Anxiety:

1. Decorating sets up systems for organization and clutter

The thing about my anxiety is that it has certain triggers - being in a crowd of people, going to a new place, or just being around chaos. In my book, clutter = chaos. But the truth is we are all humans, we live with other humans and humans make mess. That's just reality. When I first moved in with my husband after getting married, I realized how much clutter and chaos affected me - the clothes on the floor, the dishes piling up in the sink, the stuff and clutter just everywhere. My husband doesn't see it. His brain can filter all that out and just focus on what's in front of him. My brain can't. Its going in all different directions and being stressed by all the stuff laying around.

As I started decorating our house, I didn't just put out pretty vases and cover the sofa in throw pillows. I set up systems to contain the clutter and keep us organized. A decorative box on our entryway console became storage for keys and a place for mail. A basket by the sofa in the living room held throw pillows instead of them being strewn across the floor.

Your home should be a place of escape, somewhere you can contain and control the crazy-busy of life and actually rest. So when decorating your home to calm your anxiety, set up systems for organization and clutter so you're not constantly picking up after others. Rather, you can just come in, plop down on the bed, and relax.

Here's a quick decorating tip for a stress-free home: Take a look around your home and identify areas that are stressing you out. Remember, a cluttered home equals a cluttered mind. Try to think up some ways you can creatively add storage or organization so those areas are kept up with better. Buying a storage bin or sorting a linen closet today means less work and ultimately, less stress for you down the road!

2. Decorating creates a cozy sanctuary for you to escape

Think about where you spend most of your day. Is it in a white, fluorescent-lit office with white walls and vague smells coming from the Break Room? Is it inside a cold, dimly-lit Kitchen? Or maybe you're spending most of your time inside a car that's acting as your office and second home. Whatever the case, when you come home, it should feel like you are escaping to a cozy sanctuary that was created just for you! You deserve to be welcomed with warm light, fragrant scents, beautiful colors, and cozy textures.

Decorating to calm anxiety means being intentional about spending some time and money on you and what you need. This might mean painting your bedroom a relaxing shade of violet. Or maybe its adding some candles to your bathroom so you can take a relaxing bath at night. It's not necessarily about having the chic-est house on the block. It's more about what you need and what will make you feel less stressed at home.

Think about the last vacation you took. I'm pretty sure most of us wouldn't pay good money for a dark, ill-furnished hotel room. So why then do we pay rent or a mortgage each month to live in a mismatched, poorly decorated home? Your home should be a unique expression of your personality and soul. It should be a sacred place, a cozy sanctuary for you to escape the crazy-busy of this world.

You give a lot to others. Let your home give back to you by decorating it with some beautiful and personal touches.

3. Decorating prepares you for last-minute entertaining

Stop me if this is too familiar - You receive a text while at work from your mother-in-law that she's in town and will be popping by for a short visit. Or this - your husband forgot to tell you that he's having all his friends over to watch the game on Sunday. Or maybe your nosy neighbor keeps knocking on your door to get a quick peek inside your home. The truth is that you'd love to show off your home or entertain more, but you just haven't spent the time and energy to get your home to where you want it to be. The guest room is overrun with pet toys and random furniture. The family room still has your husband's college memorabilia. And your kitchen needs a complete renovation to bring it out of the 90s.

Listen, no one is perfect. We are all at different stages of our decorating journey. But I just want to encourage you to make sure you've started your decorating journey! No, having ten thousand boards with dream home inspiration on Pinterest does not count! Decorating is work. If you don't have the time, pay money for someone to help you. If you have lots of time, start putting in the man hours! Make small changes daily if possible and try to do larger renovation projects over the course of a few months. Little by little these small changes will add up and you'll be welcoming your mother-in-law for a visit and volunteering your home to host the next big event!

Decorating won't cure your anxiety but it can help to calm it when you put some thought into your home. Do those overhead, harsh lights annoy you? Get some lamps you can turn on instead! Feel like your apartment is dingy and old? Refresh it with some peel-and-stick wallpaper. Don't underestimate the healing power of color, pattern, and decoration! Just think how beautiful nature is and how calming it makes you feel to take in a sunrise or walk through a forest. Then, imagine creating an environment like this for yourself in your own home. Decorating your home will definitely help to reduce your anxiety and give you a safe space you can enjoy in your time off.

What area of your home gives you the most stress? Tell me in the comments or share a picture in the "Help! I can't Decorate" Facebook group! We'll give you some free advice to help you design away your woes and decorate your way to feeling good!