Mental Health and Your Home

There’s no handbook to owning a home. That’s why Jessica Duncan with Scenic Sotheby's International Realty goes beyond the transaction to share tips to improve the homeowner experience.

Each week, the seasoned Gulf Coast realtor shares sound advice for smarter decisions in the areas of home maintenance, avoiding scams, refinancing, buying, selling, investing, increase your home value, downsizing, estate planning, Florida insurance, money saving hacks & building wealth.

Her area of expertise is the Florida panhandle including Pensacola, Gulf Breeze,Milton, Pace and Navarre. No matter what season of homeownership you’re in, Jessica Duncan Just my opinion is adulting made simple.

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Transcript

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This is Jessica Duncan. It's just my opinion, and I'm Jessica. There's no handbook to owning a home. That's why I go beyond the transaction to share my opinions, tips, and insights. For adulting made simple. Today we are talking about creating a home that supports your mental health. Mental health is definitely an issue we're all worried about, and right now in this rainy, gloomy day in Pensacola, Florida that we normally do not have many of our mental health is so important. So we're gonna talk about how you can create a home that supports the mental health that you want to achieve in life. Your home is a mirror of who you are and vice versa. So if your home is cluttered, your mind is going to be cluttered. You want to be very intentional about your home, of creating this place of peace. Our home should be a place that we can restore, that we feel rested. We feel 100% at peace in our home. And if your home is too cluttered. There's too much going on there and you can't relax in your own home. You're not gonna achieve that balance of mental health and peace. There is definitely enough chaos out in the world, whether we're going to the grocery store, trying to find a parking spot. Why is this person in the middle of the grocery store aisle with their buggy sideways? And I can't get by? Don't they know I gotta pick my kids up in a minute? You know, all this chaos that we have to deal with in life and when we get home. We gotta have this peaceful sound mind that really balances us and our home is gonna help us create that. The things that really play into this are gonna be your lighting sound sense, so the sense of smell, um, all the different textures throughout the house. And so we're gonna dig into each of these and look at how we can use these senses to create non stressors in our life. How can we use these senses to reduce the stress in our life and give us a better mental health? So there are three main psychological zones that you wanna think about in your house. One is the calm zone, and we're gonna dig into each of these a little bit deeper. But first, the one is the calm zone. Next is the clear zone, and then the third is the reset zone. So what do I mean by this? What is a calm zone? A calm zone is. Someplace that you can go, that you just feel so calm as soon as you get there. Everything releases, all the day stresses go away. And this could be different places in your home for different people in your home. It may be a cozy chair by a window with a, reading area. It could be a chase lounge that overlooks the pool. Every person in your house may have a different area, but make sure you have one. And they each have one that they can go to when they need to remain calm and reset. Maybe it's on a, a patio, maybe sitting out on the patio, having your coffee in the morning overlooking the pool. You know, if you're lucky enough to live on the water, that's always a great reset to sit out and enjoy that coffee or a cocktail in the evening while enjoying a nice. Beautiful sunrise or sunset, but find that calm place for you and your home and maybe figure out who your family members, where their calm place is too. You wanna make sure you know that when they're in that place, you're recognizing that and allowing them to be calm as well. One of my favorite places for calm in my house is my primary bath. I built my whole house, a whole bathroom around this bathtub. I absolutely love it. It is a place of sanctuary for me. I can adjust the lights and relax and nice warm water if my muscles are hurting. I have jets going. I absolutely love it, and my husband knows that when I'm in my bathtub, that is my calm zone. Don't stress me out. Don't come ask me 20 questions. Let me enjoy my time there. But I also love my Florida room and I like to work from my Florida room that overlooks my pool because it's lots of natural light, and it still though is giving me this calming while I'm in there, which is sort of different. You've got all this natural light coming in and I'm overlooking the pool, but it still gives me a sense of calm inside. So make sure you find your calm zone. Know where it is, know your family members, where their calm zone is, so you can respect that time there. Next is the clear zone. So the clear zone is the place in your house that if it is cluttered, your mind is ab. Absolutely cluttered. It's the place that anchors clarity for you. So if you clean that area, you feel better. You're like, okay, I can, I can get through the next hour because this area is no longer dec clut cluttered. Everyone is a different place for this as well. It may be your desk. Uh, it could be the entryway wherever you come in your door, whether it's a drop area or in the front door of the household. Everyone has a different place. Uh, for me, it is the main island in my kitchen. We have this really huge island, and I cannot stand to have anything put on the island. So much so that I created a drop station when you walk in the door so that nothing gets put on it. Because if I come home and there is clutter all over it, the first thing I have to do is clean off the bar. I just can't function right. And when I clear off that bar, it clears out my mind. So that is my clear zone. So when this zone is clutter-free, everything feels better in life, right? So know what your clutter-free zone is, figure that out, that clear zone so that when you come home and you're feeling too cluttered, just fixing that one area is gonna mentally help you. You may not have to do the entire house and spend hours cleaning it, but that one area is gonna really help clear your mind. So next we're gonna talk about the reset zone. So what is a reset zone? That is that place that every day you go to and you basically reset for the next day. You do something to reset for the next day. For me, the easiest way to think about this is it's almost like I'm closing out today and erasing it from my mind so that I can go to bed and wake up with a clear, fresh mental mindset the next morning. So what is that for you and the family members in your house for, for you to reset? One of the things that, you know, some people may be the bathroom counter, right? So we're getting ready in the morning. We make this huge mess. Maybe it's resetting your bathroom counter, maybe a charging station. And we all have these gadgets. Now we have to charge, and it's a whole task to put everything on charge at night. But just that simple task of putting everything on charge, getting it all started for the next day, helps you reset that day. Keys. Maybe it's a place that you drop your keys and you need to get your keys in your bag and everything you need to take in the morning prepared and set in a place so you're ready to walk out the door. Something like that could be a really good reset for my husband. It is definitely the kitchen sink before he goes to bed at night. He always goes back to the kitchen and makes sure that there is nothing in that. Sink because when he wakes up the next morning, he wants to feel very fresh, very clean, and that is his reset spot, is that kitchen sink. So figure out what your reset zone is in the house and what's gonna make you feel like I can go to bed at peace because I'm ready for tomorrow. So let's talk about some micro habits that you can make that are gonna make a massive difference in the mental health assistance that your home gives. So there are little things like setting your lights at 7:00 PM down to a lower setting, just lowering them. When we, uh, remodeled our house, every single light in the entire house is on a dimmer, and that is so that as we start to wind down in the evenings. We can lower the light setting and really get into that mindset of resting, reserving our central nervous system so that we can go to sleep and reset for the night. But, you know, you wanna make sure that you're doing these little things that you don't think are gonna make a big impact, but they will. I promise that will make a huge impact when we. My husband likes very light lighting in the house. Everything needs to be more subdued. When I'm cleaning, I want it surgical room bright, right? So that's how we compromised is being able to put all of those adjustable lights throughout the house so that in the evenings we can start to wind down. But if we're cleaning. We want it wide open so we can see what we're cleaning., Also one thing that you may try a little micro habit is, uh, before you end the day, is a two minute counter wipe down. So that's a visual noise that you see on the counter. Those items sitting. Of course, mine is my reset,, in my, my calming. So mine's always pretty much that way, but maybe it's just going through the house and wiping the counters down real quick. Um, maybe it's. Making a habit of one load in, one load out. So your laundry never really piles up. Even like, you know what? Five minutes before I go to bed every night, I'm gonna do a sweep through the house and just do a quick tidy, set a timer, five minutes, I'm done. These are just small little micro habits that can really help with your mental health in your home. Another one could be, music or soundscapes to promote calming. You know, a lot of times we're in our, we're ending our day and we've got all this chaos going on in the house, and then the news is blaring in the background. Let's face it. There's never anything good on the news. They never, there wouldn't be any news if all they talked about was good.'cause apparently no one wants to hear that. Right. So what if you, instead of having the news blasting in the background while you're cooking dinner, maybe it's just having a little music play, whether it's like jazz or. Whatever type of music you're into, just having that nice little calming soundscape to help promote the calm in the background. Even if that means rocking your head out to some heavy metal, it could be calming for you. And that's what's important about it. So you notice we've talked a lot about the different sensories, right? So we're gonna dig into those a little bit deeper. How you can really design this house with very low effort, but make a high impact on your mental health. One of'em is lighting. So different lighting will evoke different emotions in different people. They say technically that a warm light, which is gonna be more of a yellow light, is more calming for most people. For me, I actually prefer, prefer a bright white daylight light. Um, the sun and natural light are very calming to me, and it's something that I seek a lot. So for me in the house, I love to have bright. Lights, even if I have to dim'em down some. Um, but for you it could be a, a warm light with that yellow tone. Probably not a red light. I'm just gonna say red is a little angry. At one time I thought I wanted to paint my bedroom red. Not a good idea. Red invokes anger. So just think about things like that. Think about those colors. Think about the lighting. Maybe it's, uh, providing more lamps instead of just overhead lighting. If you don't have the luxury of being able to use all the, adjustable lighting throughout your house, maybe it's setting up a couple lamps so that you can turn those overhead lights and make some indirect lighting happen. Maybe it's lighting a candle., Maybe it's when you're soaking in that tub in the evening, you light a candle and turn the overhead. S down. Think about how you can use lighting to perform better mental health on yourself throughout the home. Now let's talk about the sense of smell. So this is huge. Obviously if your house stinks. You're not gonna be in a good mental place, so you gotta keep it clean. But let's take it a little bit further. How can you use smells to really adjust how you're feeling in your mental health in a, in even a certain mood to change your mood and change your mindset? One of'em, I'm sure everyone's heard is lavender. Lavender is great to help you sleep. If you're a crazy oil chick like me, I love my oils. I think they're amazing. No, I don't think they'll cure cancer. But I do think they can do light things like this and just change my mood and my attitude. I love if I'm having a tough time sleeping, I am going to put some lavender oil in my diffuser. I may even mix up some and spray my bedding with it just to give me that nice smell of lavender, which is mentally gonna help relax my mind. On the same time though, I also, like in my office, I like to use a tangerine oil. If I'm in my office and I'm really working on something very creative and I'm writing maybe a property description and have to figure out how to word this so that it makes sense to others, and people get excited about this and I need to get really creative'cause there's something crazy about this house that most people wouldn't like, but I gotta present it in a way that attracts the right person, right? So Tangerine is great for that. I'll put some tangerine in my diffuser and just let it go. And I swear you just, it's like the, the sparks just start, start going in your mind. Clean linen. Obviously this became huge about 10 years ago. Everyone wanted the candle that smelled like clean linen. The reason why is if it smells clean, we think our house is clean. It's a mental effect that's happening. So by having the clean, fresh smelling, uh, candles or room deodorizers or smells, it's gonna really relax you. Now be careful'cause you can't have too much overpowering. That can create a whole nother mental issue. So just make sure everything is. Is very light, subtle and is more of a natural smell. I love fresh eucalyptus in my shower. I take a shower every single morning, and so when I wake up and I get in the shower and that steam hits the eucalyptus, it just brightens my mood for the day. It's hard to have a bad day when you wake up smelling eucalyptus. Unfortunately, I don't always get to have fresh eucalyptus in my shower. I don't yet have a. Flower delivery service set up to make sure this happens. So I'll get it, um, when I can, but if I can't, I have some oils that I'll use that again, just help make my day. Absolutely wonderful. So we talked a little bit about sounds earlier when we were talking. About the music and the kitchen, but let's talk about how we can take it even further. You know, maybe it's, uh, sounds of the ocean or storms at night that you can have playing in your bedroom, uh, that help you really relax and, and go to sleep. Just listening to the slow roar of the thunder, I love that. The best sleep is always when it's storming, right? Some people though the storms may scare them. That may not be their thing. Maybe it's, you know, the sound of crashing waves. Maybe it's just white noise. Some people like a fan in the background. My husband is one of these people that loves silence. He can just sit in silence and relax. I cannot, I have to have something to distract my mind. So think about how you can use sounds throughout the house. Either to adjust your mind or also to figure out when you're in a certain mindset how to, uh, to how to correct that. One of the things in our bedroom when we remodeled that we wanted to make sure we included was a way that we can create an overwhelming storm in our our bedroom. I like the sound of that storm. I like to hear the thunder rolling in. So being able to create with a, a great sound system in there, feel like I'm sleeping in the middle of a thunderstorm, even when it's not happening, will help me sleep so much better. So think of things like that that you can do in your house. We're also gonna talk about texture. So texture is something a lot of people forget about, but it really does. Whether you're touching it or just looking at it, it does have some mental effects on you. You know, maybe it's some plush pillows, maybe when you walk into your bedroom and use. See all those plush pillows stacked up. It just makes you wanna dive in. I know we have this awesome duvet that I love. It's like a cloud. It looks like a cloud. And soon as I walk in the bedroom, I see it. I just want to get inside it, right? Because I know it's gonna feel like I'm sleeping on a cloud. Maybe it's a little cozy blanket. In the living room, I keep a wonderful UGG blanket that feels like soft fur almost. And so whenever I'm there trying to unwind, maybe watch a little TV before going to bed, I'm gonna grab that and that texture and also rugs. Uh, rugs really create some softness. Um, if you're in a household like me with allergies, we have no curtains anywhere in the house, very little fabric. All of our couches are leather. Unfortunately, that creates a very harsh environment. Even mentally because of the visuals of all hard items, right? I hate it. But unfortunately we have allergies and if it can't be thrown in the washing machine, we have to be careful. Well, now they make rugs that you can actually throw in the washing machine. I love them because they've been a great addition to my house to really soften the mood of my house and know that I can still wash'em and get all the dust mites out, and no one's gonna have major allergy problems. So let's talk about emotional hotspots in your home. So these are places that every home has one or two that you know, could create a lot of stress, right? Entryways, kitchen countertops, laundry piles, paper piles. So what is visually in your home? That is creating this mental stress in your life and how can you fix it? I want you to walk through your house and think about that. So we've talked about so much today. We've talked about how you can change the lighting, how you can change the textures, how you can change. We even talked a little bit about colors, how you can have your relaxing areas. You know, I want you to really go through your home and think, what else can I do to help my help create a home that supports the mental health I wanna achieve? All right, so let's talk about our home hack today. So what is a home hack? A home hack is just a cool app, a device, something that I am just loving right now that is making life a little bit easier. So I want to talk about something that's gonna help your mental health today, and there's a ton of apps. So, I'm not gonna be specific on this, but I want you to find an app that you can do what's called a body scan, and there's a ton of them out there, but a body scan is nothing but a form of meditation, I guess you can say. But it's something that you can do that helps you learn to relax every single part of your body, help you realize that, hey, that pinky toe's curled. I need to relax that. Really help you unwind. I started doing, um, doing this about a year ago, and it has been a major change in my life. I am one of those people who I don't feel things in my body. I just keep pushing, keep pushing, as a lot of women are. We have too much going on. To feel any pain in our bodies and then we let it fester and get too bad. This has been great for me to really be in tune with what my is going on in my body and what I need. So definitely find an app that does that. There's a ton of them out there, and try to spend 10 minutes at least twice a week doing it if you can't every day. But that's my home hack of the week. I hope you enjoy it. This is Ben. Just my opinion. I hope you enjoyed the show today. If you have any questions, please DM me. If you have an idea for the show, I'd love to hear from you. Message me, DM me, give me a call. I might just have you on the show, but remember, this has been just my opinion and it's adulting made simple.