Your home environment can feel more imprisoning than comforting when you are struggling with depression. Could your home be more depression-friendly? You can use these tips for creating an environment that supports your recovery while honoring where you are in this moment. It’s going to get better, one day at a time.
Get Green
Scientific research has found that just being able to see something naturally green every day can greatly improve your mood, reduce stress, and boost your self-esteem. Being in the presence of a living thing can change many of the narratives depression creates in the mind. Hopelessness, helplessness, and a disconnect from life can be changed by a little bit of a living thing that isn’t human. Connecting to other people can be difficult when you are feeling overwhelmed by depression. Plants provide clean oxygen, something to tend to, be nurturing with, and appreciate with a small bit of happiness. Bringing living green into your house can help reduce your feelings of depression.
Connect Outside
A common tendency of depression is to want to isolate and stay huddled in the darkness. More accurately said, a common tendency is to feel like there is no other option than to isolate and stay huddled in the darkness. People who are depressed don’t necessarily want to be depressed and feel how they are feeling. The pervasive helplessness and hopelessness of depression makes depression feel difficult to combat. Opening the blinds, drawing back the curtains, and letting in the light can help. If you have a view of the outside, take it in. If you can get out, get outside. Depression can make it feel like the sun is burning a hole, instead of warming your body. A little bit each day, the sun will feel less invasive and more welcoming. However you can connect with the world outside of the world your depression has created, connect to it bit by bit, day by day. Raise the windows, open the doors, and let the light shine in. If you don’t have an immediate connection to the outside world, consider getting a lightbox, a fan, and hanging some pictures of natural landscapes. Some research has indicated that even watching documentaries about nature can be helpful in the same way that connecting to nature itself is helpful.
Walls Of Wisdom
Our own words don’t always help us when we are experiencing depression. We struggle to hold onto messages and meanings because our feelings of helplessness are so strong. Surrounding ourselves with the words of others can help us to become inspired. If we can’t hold onto the hope of our own thoughts, we can believe there is hope in the words of others. Write quotes on post it notes. Buy wall stickers with inspiring sayings, or paint something on a canvas. If you want, put it right on the wall. You can use a dry erase marker on your mirrors or windows as well.
Depression can be treated and the symptoms can be alleviated. If you are struggling with depression, there is help available. The Guest House Ocala offers the highest level of concierge style treatment for trauma, depression, anxiety, addictions, and related issues. Life at the estate offers the utmost privacy and professionalism in clinical care.
Call us today for information on our residential treatment programs: 1-855-483-7800