Love Where You Live: Smart Ways To Boost Your Wellbeing At Home This Year
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With the everyday hustle, mental strain and numerous stressors we’re constantly subject to, seeking comfort in self-care and setting up a cosy home environment has become a priority for many. But while it’s beneficial to surround ourselves with things that make us happy and rituals that help us feel calm, our savings account shouldn’t suffer too much in the process. Luckily, it doesn’t take much to treat yourself better, create a peaceful space, and indulge in little luxuries. If you want to live like it’s cosy season all year, here are some mini changes you can start implementing today.
Love Where You Live: Smart Ways To Boost Your Wellbeing At Home This Year.
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Give Yourself Some Love – Metaphorically speaking, yes, you should form a habit of giving yourself a hug, patting yourself on the back, celebrating your big and small wins, and feeling genuinely proud of what you accomplish every day. But also, give yourself a real hug: right before getting out of bed every morning, bring your knees to your chest, fold your arms around your body and squeeze for ten deep breaths. Hugging yourself first thing in the morning helps wake up your lower back, increase your range of movement, stimulate your body and mind, and set the right tone for the day ahead. But most of all, you deserve a hug.
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Love Where You Live: Smart Ways To Boost Your Wellbeing At Home This Year.
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Relive (And Display) Your Memories – Warm your space with anything that warms your heart: set out family photos on prominent shelves, frame a gifted bouquet of flowers, make room for your travel souvenirs, create art from family traditions. Whatever your décor style is, incorporating those personal touches is what makes a house a home: having a constant reminder of the most cherished moments in life, and your favourite people in it, will set a positive mood during moments of stress, while also keeping you grounded, helping you see how far you’ve come, and giving you some time for self-reflection. And let’s be real: no Van Gogh will ever beat your niece’s drawing, made with love just for you.
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Love Where You Live: Smart Ways To Boost Your Wellbeing At Home This Year.
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Put Some Pep In Your Step – Become a stay-at-home barista and amp up your morning coffee routine with a fancy at-home coffee (or hot beverage) station. You don’t need a lot of space – just a small area outside your kitchen will suffice to set up your luxurious customised café bar. For example, grab a moveable cart, a side table or an unused cabinet. Now, think aesthetics, embellishing with knickknacks and the necessary gadgets, making sure the look blends with your overall home style; consider colour schemes, textures and finishes. Display your mugs in a mug rack, place your coffee or tea maker, and start decorating with the essentials (napkins, biscuits, sugar canister, pods container, tea bags, syrups, etc.). Your cuppa might taste the same, but the café-like experience will feel a lot cosier.
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Love Where You Live: Smart Ways To Boost Your Wellbeing At Home This Year.
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Dim The Lights – Something as basic as lighting can fully transform your space. While cold white, bright lights are best for task-specific areas, like your office space or kitchen, an increase in warmth everywhere else – especially at the end of the day – makes the whole place feel more welcoming and relaxing, and can positively impact your ability to get rest at night by promoting the secretion of the sleep hormone melatonin. An easy way to ‘warm up’ your lighting is to create a layered effect, varying ceiling fixtures and wall sconces with floor and table lamps. You can also install dimmer switches, change your bulbs to ‘warm white’ (below 2,700 Kelvins), get crafty with a light-diffusing lamp shade DIY, or get a ‘sleep under the stars’ mood lamp.
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Love Where You Live: Smart Ways To Boost Your Wellbeing At Home This Year.
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Create A Scent-Scape – Speaking of dimmed lights… our sense of smell can be the biggest trigger for our emotions and memories, so what better way to bring relaxation and comfort than through a comforting candle scent-scape? Splurge on a luxurious wax sculpture, or, if you’re not one for watching your money burn away (who is?), make your own candles with a relaxing scent – rosemary, cedarwood and jasmine take the lead for cosy vibes. Another option? Light your fireplace, or create a fireside feeling if you don’t have one, for a comforting mix of crackling sounds and woody aromas. Before going to bed, turn an essential oil diffuser on with a few drops of lavender, chamomile or bergamot for an instant aromatherapy session and a guaranteed deep sleep.
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Love Where You Live: Smart Ways To Boost Your Wellbeing At Home This Year.
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Turn On Spa Mode – Who doesn’t love a massage? More importantly, who doesn’t need a massage after hours of back arching, neck tightening and non-stop hustling? There are tons of techniques and pain-soothing moves you can easily do at home, and that won’t cost you a cent – well, only as many cents as a tennis ball costs. Whether you have achy feet, sore hips, tense shoulders or bad posture, spend a few minutes doing some simple exercises with a tennis ball to improve circulation and muscle tension, while also lowering your blood pressure and relieving anxiety, all from the comfort of your own bedroom. If you’re craving the complete spa experience, create your own – no costly appointment required.
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Love Where You Live: Smart Ways To Boost Your Wellbeing At Home This Year.
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Attack The Stack – If our physical space feels scattered, our mental space will be, too. That’s why the first step towards a peaceful you is to get your surroundings straightened and organised. Any excess is distracting, stressful and makes us feel burnt out, so try decluttering every room in your house – not only is the activity itself a relaxation and creativity booster, but once your space is organised, the final result can help you sharpen your focus, get a sense of control, and relieve any anxiety. Start by letting go of anything you don’t love or need. Once everything you own is either functional or has a personal value, be smart about storage: think vertical spaces, multi-functional furniture, open shelving. And if you’re not particularly thrilled about tidying up, there are ways to make it more enjoyable.
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Love Where You Live: Smart Ways To Boost Your Wellbeing At Home This Year.
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Invest In Little Luxuries – When our 9-to-5 schedules and daily chores start to feel mundane, we need to find ways to keep our lives special. And while we’re all for doing things out of your comfort zone and saying ‘yes’ to life-changing experiences, sometimes the smallest actions have an equally big impact – especially those that make us feel pampered and special. Add some fancy accents to your bath routine with an extra-plush bathroom mat, a fluffy bathrobe or a luxurious sugar scrub; wrap yourself in cosy with a silk pyjama set and a matching sleep mask; curl up under a weighted blanket or a wearable throw; gift yourself a nice coffee machine or a set of cool glasses… It might seem insignificant to others, but it’s worth it if it makes you feel more at home.
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Love Where You Live: Smart Ways To Boost Your Wellbeing At Home This Year.
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Give Your Home A Mini Makeover – When we’re spending so many hours at home, those four walls can start to feel a bit bleak. The good news is that sometimes one simple adjustment can impact how you feel, and with a few smart changes, you can easily spruce up your space and turn it into your dream home without having to refinance. Pick your least favourite room in the house and give it a small makeover: rearrange the furniture, paint the walls in a cool colour, change the curtains, put down peel-and-stick floor tiles, add some comfy accessories, create a gallery wall. Even if your place is rented or a bit too small, you can make it look like a Pinterest board without breaking the bank.
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Love Where You Live: Smart Ways To Boost Your Wellbeing At Home This Year.
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Set Clear Boundaries – Whether you work from home or have a 30-minute commute to the office, keeping work and personal life separate can be hard, and failure to do so can affect your ability to relax and wind down, while also negatively impacting your productivity. Wherever your office is located, don’t bring work home: have (and respect) a designated workspace, avoid checking your email during off hours, create different professional and personal accounts on your devices, and have a start and shutdown ritual to train your brain to recognise work mode only during your 9-to-5. Once you’ve set boundaries and created different physical and mental spaces for the different hats you’re wearing, you’ll lower your stress and burnout levels, improve your wellbeing and home life, and be able to more fully enjoy every daily role you play.
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