There's no place like home: loving where you live good for your mental health
Many experts are on record saying the key to happiness is doing a job you love, but what about the place you return to after a day’s work? Shouldn’t it factor just as highly in the happiness stakes? The truth is loving where you live does contribute to mental health and wellbeing – and thankfully, living in a grand waterfront mansion isn’t a prerequisite to happiness on the home front.
Take me, for example: I don’t live in the height of luxury, my kitchen is dated and I’d certainly love a pool in the backyard. Yet, of the 10 places I’ve called home in my life, it’s also the house I feel happiest. A large reason for that is the location, and the fact I love the region in which we live. Psychologist, author and “Chief Happiness Officer”, Dr Timothy Sharp knows why this is key.
“For most of us, where we live is more than a house, it’s a home,” he says.
“It also includes our neighbours and community, which have been shown to be vitally important for our health and wellbeing.”
Dr Sharp says where we live also influences the activities we do, and affects the ease with which we can access social and recreational activities.
“So indirectly, the location in which we live affects our lifestyle, which not surprisingly is important for our mental health and happiness.”
However, even if you aren’t able to live in your ideal location you can still incorporate measures to ensure your house “rises up to meet you”, as Oprah has famously proclaimed.
According to interior consultant Carlene Duffy, an easy way to bring peace into your humble abode is the simple act of de-cluttering.
“We’ve all got pockets of our home that tend to become high clutter areas and we walk past them and it gives us a bit of a yucky feeling in our stomachs,” says Duffy from Cedar & Suede, a home renovation and design consultancy service.
As a former contestant on The Block with her husband Michael, she understands what it’s like to live in a swirl of chaos and admits reorganising and regrouping is the only way to stay sane.
“Everything needs to have a home. Just knowing where everything is helps for those who live really busy lives,” she says.
Similarly, having a home that serves our needs is an important ingredient to our mental health and wellbeing, as Duffy has found in her business.
“Clients will say to me, ‘I don’t want to be cleaning around decor’ or ‘I want my rug to be low maintenance and suitable for kids and dogs’.
“Or if you’re lacking storage in your kitchen and you’re not able to access items you need easily, that starts to become a real drain and that can really impact how you feel about a house,” she says, adding that homes are meant to be our beloved havens, not our loathed enemy.
“Your home shouldn’t be a burden on you. It’s about how you want to upkeep it but you don’t want to be a slave to it.”
Duffy also suggests taking the time to stand back and critically assess your living space to see where you might be able to make affordable changes.
“Making it something you are proud of can be as simple as adding some indoor plants, which are a pretty small investment – they’re bang for your buck,” she says.
“Or even just filling empty vases – we live in a semi rural area and I take foliage from our garden because flowers are so expensive.” She also advocates repurposing furniture or op-shopping for inexpensive additions to inject your personality into your home.
Finally, just in case you felt size mattered when it came to where you lay your head at night, you can be reassured by Dr Sharp. “Research clearly suggests that the size of our abode has only a minimal impact on our happiness,” he says .
“What’s far more important is how we perceive our homes and what we do within and around our homes.
“So no matter where you live or in what size house you live, for more happiness avoid comparisons with other, bigger or better homes and focus more on what you have, and worry less on what you don’t have.”