Heal Your Human
Welcome to Heal Your Human, a show about personal growth, inspiration, and healing. We're here to bring you engaging conversations and a safe space to feel supported during your healing journey.
Heal Your Human
#9- How Your Space Affects Your Wellbeing
In this week's episode, we explore the transformative power of intentionally designed spaces.
Your physical environment shapes your mental landscape far more than you might realize. When our spaces are cluttered with items we no longer need or love, they create invisible "cobwebs" of stagnant energy that subtly drain us. The same applies when work materials invade our bedrooms or when our countertops remain perpetually covered in yesterday's dinner dishes.
This discussion covers decluttering approaches that address the emotional attachments we form with possessions, particularly items connected to past versions of ourselves. We explore how maintaining separate spaces for work and rest dramatically improves sleep quality and overall functioning. Simple environmental adjustments like strategically placed water bottles, sunrise alarm clocks, and clean kitchen routines become powerful tools for behavior change.
What makes this conversation particularly valuable is acknowledging that these principles work regardless of your natural organizational tendencies or living situation. Whether you're in a sprawling house or a studio apartment, intentionally designing your space creates an environment that works with rather than against your goals. You'll discover how small, consistent changes can create a home that feels like a sanctuary rather than a source of stress.
Your environment reflects your inner state while simultaneously influencing it – it's time to make it work for you.
Time Stamps:
4:57 Colour theory: creating an enjoyable space brings joy
6:57 Keep good energy in your space
8:18 The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo
10:50 "If this item had poop on it, would you keep it? (A theory to help you let go of items)
13:15 How do you declutter when you're worried about the items going to the landfill?
16:35 We attach our identity to the items we have
18:50 When we remove unnecessary items, we have space for new habits.
19:28 Phone hygiene
20:16 Sleep hygiene: don't mix your work space with your sleep space
24:40 Make hydration convenient
27:57 Clean the kitchen before bed
30:02 Outro
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Welcome to Heal your Human, a show about personal growth, inspiration and healing. In a confusing world, we aim to be a little light and a place where you can be yourself and find other like-minded humans.
Speaker 2:We are here to bring you engaging conversations, connection and a sense of community during your healing journey. If you know you want more out of life, but you're not sure where to start, you've come to the right place.
Speaker 3:We're happy to have you here and so excited to meet you.
Speaker 2:Let's embark on this healing journey together.
Speaker 3:Hello everyone, welcome back to another episode of Heal your Human. Today, brie and I want to talk about creating a special space. So we want to talk about setting up your space for success, and what we mean by this success is not like so that you have the most productive day, but so that you have the most efficient, aligned, healing and vibrant day. And we both know that having certain items, certain pictures, certain things in our space, certain organizational skills can actually help us have a day that feels more aligned, feels more fulfilling in the things that we're doing or the times that we are being, our ability to rest and make sure that we are able to also keep rest time as rest time and work time as work time. And when we have a dysfunctional and disorganized and chaotic spaces, the work and the rest can intertwine and then it's a one big conglomerate of chaos. And that's why we want to bring all this up and share all these different points.
Speaker 3:So I have a whole bunch of different points that I'm really excited to share, and then the next episode is going to kind of be a part two that Brie's going to take over and share, and we're going to get into a little bit more adulting, because adulting is hard and if we have a space and environment that's set up for us to succeed, whether we're 18 year old adults or we're 55 year old adults it's just hard to try to be responsible and organized, and we can learn these new tips and tricks at any time in our life. Other thing I want to add is that obviously I'm not the master of having an organized and perfect space, but I know some things that work for me won't always work for everyone else, but we're all out here doing our best and trying. Before I go on to a whole rabbit hole, bree, is there anything you want to add?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I was just going to. I want to preface this a little by saying, like, sarah is an organized person and I lean more on the chaotic side. So we both have really different perspectives. But we also have kind of tailored our own spaces to create these, I guess, successful, enjoyable environments for myself or ourselves. And I sometimes struggle a lot more with this than I think Sarah does. She's a lot better. She comes over sometimes and like folds my clothes and helps me with these things. So it's kind of nice to have these two different perspectives of, um, I guess, our areas of expertise. Um, she's more organized, I'm more chaotic. So, yeah, we're just going to bring both sides.
Speaker 3:Thanks, Brie, but you do sell yourself short a little bit. You are definitely the idea generator.
Speaker 3:You always come up with these new things that you do for maybe like two days, and then I take them and I implement them and continue them in my life and I'm like, wow, like days. And then I take them and I implement them and continue them in my life and I'm like, wow, like I. And then I tell you them that I'm doing these things and I realize you're the person that showed me them in the first place, like I feel, like I want to check your Amazon search history, because it's all these how to make Bree's life more efficient and yet sometimes the pursuing I know, the follow through is something that you and maybe many people tend to struggle with, and even me, though it's always easy to buy an item, but to actually use it and try it and implement it is much harder.
Speaker 2:And I think there's a different side to this where, like there, there's like color theory and it's not just about making your space organized and clean and yada yada yada, but like actually wall behind me. I just I like it to be aesthetically pleasing for me to look at, because then it doesn't feel as crazy and chaotic. And like even me just looking at my couch cushions across the room, like it, even though I'm looking at this awesome backdrop and then in front of me there's a little bit of chaos going on, it makes me feel a little bit better knowing that like there's things around me that I do enjoy.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's so it gets, it's getting really mixed up into. We think that these items just to look at what are they actually doing to help us, at these items, just to look at what are they actually doing to help us but there's a huge, there's a huge purpose for having things that make you feel cozy and comfortable, especially when it comes to colors, because sometimes we create our house to what looks trendy or what we think is in style, but throw that all away and paint your house and create spaces the way that makes you feel really, really good. Like, I love yellow and yellow. It's not always the easiest color to add to spaces, but it makes me feel really bright and happy. So, all these things, what works for you, and you're going to go onto Instagram and post your pictures and people will say things like oh, that's out of style, oh, that looks awful, oh, you should have had it done before and that's okay. Everyone's gonna feel that way. But creating spaces where, where you feel good, is so, so important, all right, um, I think the one thing I want to bring up Brie is.
Speaker 3:The first part is having an organized and clean energy space, and what I mean by clean energy is not what is trademarked as clean energy and buying clean energy all that I'm talking about where there isn't stagnant energy by old items or items that make you not feel so great. So even when we have gifts from people that we're no longer friends with those people or there's been a falling out and they're broken and we have them taped together and we feel obligated to keep them and they're displayed in our space, what is that doing? I think it just they're displayed in our space. What is that doing? I think it just. I imagine like cobwebs, like it holds up space, and so everyone has different opinions on how to get rid of these items or how to move forward. But every single item or picture you should have should have some purpose, should have some meaning in your home, and the decluttering is probably one of, I think, the first and foremost, foremost, most important thing. It's basically get rid of everything that is unneeded so you have space for all these next items I'm going to mention that help set up your space for success. A lot of people have a really hard time with the declutter phase, and that's why we stay stuck in having too many items. Now, the right number of items is different for every person.
Speaker 3:One of the books that helped me the most was the infamous Marie Kondo the what is it? The art, the magical art of tidying up, I think it's called, and it's just a tiny little book. I loved it, but I'm also an organized person. Since I was maybe eight years old, I would reorganize my shirt drawers and my pants and my room was spotless and you could like spin a quarter on my bed. It was so perfectly laid out. But not everyone is like this.
Speaker 3:However, there were still some items that I found a hard time getting rid of due to guilt, due to having all these books that on one day I will read these, which I know I never will. Due to having all these books that on one day I will read these, which I know I never will, but I keep them. Or having clothes that I feel like I should keep because maybe I'll fit them, or maybe I'll like grow into them, or I'll get like smaller enough for them, or either way, we hang onto these items and have a hard time getting rid of it. Buying something that was expensive, that we no longer need, that makes it hard to get rid of, so the book really just helped finding joy in everything, and if you didn't, if it didn't spark joy, was the simple premise then find a new home so we can bring joy to someone else. So items that you don't want have stagnant energy and when you pass them along to someone else, they spark new joy, brings new life, brings new energy. And this has been amazing for me, because there's a lot of times where I'll hold something and there's nothing there, but there's like this should, and if I wouldn't pay money for the item to get it back, maybe that's a question you could ask to let it go.
Speaker 3:So there's a whole bunch of little things the book says on how you could help yourself with that emotional journey through this, but the biggest one is going through each and every room or each and every space and just letting things go to create that new space. Because, bree, you were mentioning that this was a harder part for you. I'd love to hear your point. So other people listening who are like Sarah, it's not that easy. Like for me, I think it's very, very easy to get rid of stuff. Sean and I so my husband Sean we go to the dump all the time getting rid of stuff. We go to the thrift store and we donate items, because we just throw everything, like we're constantly cleaning, getting rid of things. We just throw everything, like we're constantly cleaning, getting rid of things.
Speaker 2:So, brie, I want to hear your perspective on how you navigate this. Yeah, so this is I just I really actually started like giggling while you were talking there Because, about I don't know a year ago, I heard this theory and it was. I'm sorry if this is TMI for some people, they don't like talking about this, but if it, if this item that you had had poop on it, would you keep it? And this is legit like something that I say to myself and I'm like, if my animal or whatever you know maybe got some poop on this item, but I actually keep it, and so many things, I'm like, no, I would just throw that out. Or, yeah, I would just wash it.
Speaker 2:So then I'm thinking about, like, do I really care about this thing if it has that on it? I know it makes you giggle, it's just so strange, something that you would never think of, but it actually made me think about a lot of the things that I was keeping and then I started throwing things out. So it works for some people, it worked for me, it helped. But yeah, there's lots of things where I'm like I don't need this, because if I really cared about it, I would clean it, I would wash it, I would make it new again, right? So I think that's kind of where it comes in. If something happened to this item, would you take care of it, or would you just throw it in the dumpster? So nothing's wrong with it now, but would you do everything you could to keep this if you needed to? Right?
Speaker 3:You know, have you ever had an item where you want to get rid of it and then, as soon as it rips, you're like oh well, I guess it's gotta go Exactly.
Speaker 2:So it's the same like theory. And then there's clothes that I have For me. Clothes is really hard for me to get rid of because I am, I guess, the things that I have I really like. But I will wear these same clothes with paint and rips and holes in them until, like, I can't wear them anymore I think Sarah knows this like I have sweatpants that are covered in paint but I will still wear out to the grocery store just because I love them so much. But I do not want to get rid of them because I love them so much. So to me, those items, even though they're ugly and tattered, I'm still going to wear them and I'm still going to find joy in them every day.
Speaker 3:Right, I think other people worry. The next question that comes up is okay, but what about the environment? Maybe they feel okay throwing everything out, but then they feel really bad about sending things to the dump and things like that. And what I have found. This isn't a fix for maybe that thought or that guilt, but as soon as you start the process of letting things go and getting rid of things, you want to stop buying things obsessively because you stop and think about it.
Speaker 3:So my husband and I once we started decluttering like when I moved in, I got rid of so much stuff from my place. When I moved in, he got a bunch of stuff, got rid of stuff from his place and we cleaned the house together and got it set up for the both of us. And when we go out to buy things, we think, wow, are we going to use this? Wow, this item is amazing, but are we actually going to use it in the long term? And the other thing that happens is so my husband loves throwing things out, but he's also one that's like, oh, I threw it out, oh, but we need it again, I'll just go out and buy it. And lately I say, okay, we just threw this out. We just gave this away. We just give this. We can't just keep buying another one. It's like a rental. It's like you're paying to rent it and then you get rid of it. So now we actually go to the store and we have a story where we imagine buying it. We're like, okay, we take it home. This is what's going to happen in three weeks, babe, you're going to go into the shop and you're going to find this and you say this stupid thing and you're going to throw it in the dump. And this isn't going to happen. So do we really need it? And then we're like no, I think we can manage around. We can find a different item for the same use.
Speaker 3:And so I think once you start this whole process, you look at items differently. Same when you eat food and you can appreciate food, you start to eat so mindlessly. And same with buying items or having items. You don't just have items mindlessly, you appreciate them, you take care of them, you clean them, you get new ones, you remove the old and our bodies will change. We can't hang on to clothes that fit us at different times in our life. We need to move on with these. So same with me.
Speaker 3:I grew out of a lot of things that I had loved, that I had actually just bought last year, and now I'm like a size bigger and I was quite sad about it. I gave them away to someone very dear to me who can fit them and loves them. Brie gave me a pair of pants. I'm obsessed. I love them when we have less of an attachment to versions of ourselves. That doesn't mean they're worse or better. We're able to remove, I think, from that identity and we can just move forward in life. And these items, if they keep us stuck or keep us out of our new goals and future, they're not helpful. So pants are just pants. Shirts like you don't fit the pants, get rid of the pants. Like, if you just move forward, let it go. We kind of keep all these art projects that we think we'll get back into it, but they make us feel guilty. Let all that stuff just go.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I totally agree and I think that's I think it's really big that you just said this like the identity part.
Speaker 2:We attach our identity to these things that we have.
Speaker 2:So especially clothing for me anyways, and like I have a bag in my closet I'm not going to lie and it's of things that I really want to keep but I'm maybe they don't fit, that I really want to keep but I'm maybe they don't fit, maybe it's not the season or I'm just I'm like almost indifferent about them, like I don't know if I want to wear them or not, and then I kind of just like sit on it and wait and I'm like what am I doing with all these clothes that I don't want?
Speaker 2:But I also want to make sure that they're like going to a good home and I'm not just throwing things away that still have tags on them, but I'm also attaching them to my identity, like I'm like, well, I wore these pants when I was two sizes smaller and maybe one day I'll get to wear them again and maybe I'll be that person again, right, but we get so wrapped up in that identity of being smaller, of being different than we are now, that we kind of forget about the present. So it's really important to just really think about those items and how they serve you right now, and not about the person you were before or you want to be in the future.
Speaker 3:It's huge. It's huge Moving forward. So let's say, hypothetically, we got rid of as much as we can. We try to organize things. Hypothetically, we got rid of as much as we can. We try to organize things. A lot of times when we're cleaning, though, we skip the get rid of stuff and we just try and organize stuff that we already have too much of. It'll always revert back to mess. Unless you have a place for everything, it will always revert back to mess. So as long as you know this, listening that is okay. You don't get rid of anything, but just know that I have from experience. If you have too many items, even though you put them all organized, they're all going to get messy again. So we need to clear out and bring in new, so new things, such as they don't always have to be items, but such as new habits. So when we have the space and we have emptiness when we walk into our living room, for example we have the space and we have emptiness. When we walk into our living room, for example we have the space to maybe sit and meditate and breathe, because we're not getting distracted.
Speaker 3:The things a couple of things I want to touch on actually is jump right to having our phones and phone hygiene and all of that. So a couple of points, one couple points. One having your phone plugged outside of your bedroom. So I want to move through. The less you have that distraction, you will set yourself up for success. So this also moves into another point. So I'm trying to navigate this that I don't start all these other points.
Speaker 3:Another tip someone had was have like a station where your phone is plugged in in your house so you don't accidentally, accidentally sit down and mindlessly scroll. It's funny. I made air quotes back there but we don't have video uploaded at this time. So in case there's no video, there were some air quotes but then what happens is when you're scrolling you have to stand uncomfortably in your kitchen as opposed to on the couch. So making rules for yourself like, okay, you can't sit down when you have your phone, you can't have your phone in bed, and all these different kind of situations rules for yourself. The other point I want to bring in that leads into this is so when I said, plug your phone in outside your bedroom to charge, is having that really good sleep hygiene? And when your bedroom is a place for sleeping and not for work, not for social media, for your phone. Even having a TV, I think, can be really challenging in your bedroom. Maybe Brie disagrees with this because she has a TV in her bedroom, but hear me out.
Speaker 3:I lived in a apartment suite where I had you walk in and there is a kitchen slash, tiny little kitchen table and then a bedroom, and that was it. There was no living room. So what ended up happening? Cause I didn't have a couch, I didn't want to just sit at the kitchen table I had. I would do everything basically sitting on my bed. So even while I wanted to edit podcast videos at my perfect little desk workspace I set up, I would unplug the computer and do everything in my bed and I would read in my bed, I would watch videos, I would edit things at work. I was creating an event at the time. I planned everything from the comfort of my bed.
Speaker 3:Do you know how hard it was to sleep at night? Really hard. I could not fall asleep and I wondered why, and I correlated it to not when your body doesn't know what it's time for sleep and where it's time for rest. So because everything was in bed, I lay there and it's like panic mode, it's stress, it's worrying, it's thinking about all these different things.
Speaker 3:Now I live in a house where the bedroom is for sleeping, we have a TV in the living room, my husband and I plug our phones outside of our room and we have a sunrise alarm clock, so light comes on and birds start tweeting, and sometimes it's a magical experience.
Speaker 3:Sometimes I wake up in the morning and I ask Sean to shoot the birds, but the point being is having a space where all that other stuff is out of there and it it creates.
Speaker 3:I cannot even begin to say how more, how much more successful do I feel and how much better do I sleep, because I really struggled with sleep before. Because when I was talking at the beginning of this episode, when we mix rest with work and we don't have strong defining lines between the two, the whole day just becomes work and rest mixed together and you don't feel like you're ever getting rest but you're never getting work done. So if you have designated areas for doing everything, even in a small space, it's so important. So when I had my little space, um, back in my old place, it seemed like it was impossible, but I could have put a little couch in, or a separate chair or got a comfier chair, because I had a very uncomfortable office chair. I could have done a lot of different things to prevent me from laying on my bed while doing work, and I think that would have helped greatly.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I agree, I've been in that phase as well, and while it's not my bedroom, I do have a desk and a couch in. So that's kind of how I really am trying my best to go in between. So I can do this little recording from my couch right now because I like to be super comfy, but I can also work at my desk if I want to. But then I can go back to my couch and journal and do whatever I want and then I can go back to the desk when I feel like it's time to really get into, like the zone awesome.
Speaker 3:I think it makes a huge difference. And creating a workspace obviously not all of us have an extra room for an office. I'm very grateful that we both have that, brie, not everyone has that but just creating a nook or a space, or even setting the stage with non-physical things so maybe just music, or maybe just not having a permanent space that's ready, but create like setting the stage, like putting on some essential oils or having pan flutes in the background, and creating a space that way where you're ready to work and knowing when it's work time and then when it's at rest time. Other thing I want to bring up quickly is water.
Speaker 3:A lot of us are dehydrated, a lot of us want to drink more water and as much as it's really not that much work to grab a glass out of the cupboard and fill it with water if it is not right there. We often don't do it at least that's what it is for me. So at times I've had like four liter water bottles and I've had to try and drink all of that in a day throughout the day. I've never been able to find ones that aren't plastic, that are that big, and I'm also one. If I can't put in the dishwasher, then I won't wash it as much, and then if I don't wash it, I don't want to use it, and so on, and then the trend stops.
Speaker 3:But for Valentine's Day, brie got me this really incredible ginormous water bottle bottle with a straw, and it keeps everything cold. So instead of having this gross plastic water bottle that tastes like warm plastic water in my truck, I have this very incredible, very beautiful cup that I've been sipping on throughout the podcast and I fill it up a couple of times in a day and I'm not even thinking about it, I just take sips because it's a visual cue. So if you want to drink more water, find a water bottle that you love. This works. Bree and I are giving you an excuse to go pick out a very cute, fun water bottle that you will use and you will love. Get it, fill it up and just have it in various areas of your room, of your house, sorry and then have a routine where you can put it in the dishwasher or hand wash it, something that's easy, so that you'll keep using it and not that you'll just give up once you want to give it a scrub.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I really struggle with drinking water and I basically won't drink water unless it's out of a water bottle. So this is something that we've kind of like hacked in our life to drink water because we also have cats, so they're always dipping their paws in your water glass. So we've basically just gotten all these awesome water bottles. Shout out to Ouala, because I love the Oualas bottles. Uh, shout out to awala because I love the awalas. Um. But if you just get a whole bunch of water bottles that you love or cups that you love, you will probably drink water out of them more often and just put them all around your house with water already in them, and then in every room you'll have water to drink I've never done this, but there's some controversy whether it's like cute or effective or just plain weird.
Speaker 3:But there's an app you can get, where you have a little plant and every time you drink water, you put how much water you drink and then your plant gets some water and then, when you're dehydrated, your plant dies and then you feel bad, get some water and then, when you're dehydrated, your plant dies and then you feel bad. So it's it's supposed to teach you to take care of something else, because we're always better at taking care of something or someone else than ourselves. I've never used it, but I've heard some friends really love it. They also felt ridiculous doing it, but sometimes that's what it takes. If we can't, we can't give ourselves water. We got to give a plant some water, I agree, okay.
Speaker 3:Next one I want to say quick is a clean kitchen before bed. So for me, if my kitchen is not clean, I will not want to wake up and I will not want to do life, and I need to. Thankfully, I have a dishwasher. I'm so grateful I never used to have a dishwasher. I'm so grateful I never used to have a dishwasher and it was very challenging. I'm a tiny little sink and then I just didn't want to cook altogether. But I cook lots.
Speaker 3:The dishwasher probably goes on like two to three times a day, depending if I'm making breads and baking and and what other stuff, but at least one to two times every day and I put everything in and sometimes I get upset because I put everything in the dishwasher and forget to turn it on. I don't want to blame my wonderful husband. He is amazing and will clean up the kitchen after dinner if I get busy doing something else, but he rarely turns the dishwasher on. So everything's clean and I think it's done and it's not. So I need to check that, because when I wake up and then I have to turn that on, then there's more dishes. But if the counters are wiped and clean and everything is perfect.
Speaker 3:Thankfully, like I just said, I have an incredible husband that helps out so much, so I have that ability to keep it clean. Even my daughter loves doing dishes. It just makes my sleep so much better. That's the last point that I have Having a clean kitchen, having water, having water around. Oh, actually one more having sticky notes around the house of like little reminders um, I like to have a lot of lists. So reminders for groceries, reminders of appointments. As soon as I remember something, just write it down and have all these spots in the house and collect them. But also, like you are awesome reminders, feel good reminders and all of that stuff and those points about the sleep um with the alarm clock, keeping the phones out, having a designated area for work, drinking water and having a clean kitchen and decluttering those are all the things that helps me feel successful.
Speaker 2:All right, I think that wraps it up. All right, I think that wraps it up All right. So thank you for joining Heal your Human. We are so excited to talk to you on the next one. Have a great day, bye, bye. Thank you for listening to this episode of Heal your Human. If you're loving this journey, please share this podcast with everyone you know and love. It means the world.
Speaker 1:If you want to get in touch with us, please reach out. You can find all our info in the show notes. See you next time.