Social interaction and being other places are both so very important. We don’t always realize this until something changes and, suddenly, we no longer leave the house every day. And those of us who spend more time at home than at other places, due to whatever life circumstances, quickly learn how important it is to create a pleasant home environment. Your home space should nurture and inspire you. You should feel relaxed, comfortable and motivated. This is important no matter how much time you spend at home, but the more time you spend at home (or in any given environment), the more it affects you.
The year 2020 was an especially home-bound year, and for more people than usual. But there comes a point when we just really need to get out of the house already. Having a clean, tidy and beautiful home makes a tremendous impact on our well-being. But even the nicest homes can become self-inflicted prisons if we don’t regularly leave for a change of scenery. It is important to make a point to leave the house every day if we don’t already have a built-in reason to do so.
Cabin Fever: How We Know We Need to Get Out of the House Already
Typically, leaving the house means a change of company. We are around other people when we go other places. We are inspired by fresh ideas, inspirations, sights and sounds. This is important since humans are social creatures who thrive on communication and cooperation. We aren’t meant to be alone for extended periods of time. My old college roommate commented that even an introvert like her got antsy during quarantine. She began to look forward to her weekly allergy shots, just for some social interaction! Of course, there weren’t many options during quarantine. And we are now quarantining again in the later half of 2021. But when we feel utterly bored, it’s time to get out of the house. We naturally seek company other than our own or that of our loved ones after being home for so long. When we leave the house every day, we engage with others and can have new or unpredictable conversations.
Humans Need New Cognitive Input on a Regular Basis
While people play a large role in our social equilibrium and life satisfaction, so do the physical walls around us. Our house, however beloved, can begin to feel very dull after spending a lot of time in it. There is only so much redecorating that one can do when stuck in the same environment for so long. Seeing new sights and experiencing new places are crucial for our need for novelty.
Even if we go to the exact same place every day, that is one extra place besides home where we can experience an environment we don’t control. And while it’s important to feel a sense of security and control over our own home, it’s fun to go someplace else where we don’t hold any responsibility over its environment but can be surprised (whether for better or for worse) at what someone else has done with it. We can relax and feel like a guest, a customer, a patron, instead of a homeowner or host. We can grace a place with our presence and also allow that place to serve us.
Why We Stay Inside: Home Environment Compensates for Wide-Spread Ugliness
Sometimes, people prefer to spend more time in their home because their home is the nicest place around. This is understandable; yet, it is still important to leave the house every day. If you feel any reluctance to leaving your home that isn’t otherwise due to social anxiety or another mental health struggle, could it be because you have lost faith in the greater built environment beyond your home? I often wonder whether Americans put so much more effort into improving their homes than middle-class people living in other countries because most of our built environment is less than attractive.
There are certainly ugly places everywhere in the world (by built design and lack of planned aesthetics), but primary features like architectural design and streetscape are overwhelmingly more attractive and pleasing in most other countries. They have more character and a longer history. The streets are more inviting and the buildings more inspiring. The natural world is often much more incorporated into urban design, with greenery gracing every block. In contrast, most American developers seem to have forgotten the importance of beauty in everyday life and neglect the fact that the environment around us affects our psychology.
Making Up for What Our Community Lacks
There are certainly exceptions to this generality in the USA and abroad, but the greater USA’s lack of aesthetically appeasing built environment could be what fuels Americans’ preoccupation with beautifying our homes. And no wonder. After working in, driving through, or walking/biking/busing through bland monotony or hideous scenery, who wouldn’t want to master the opposite effect in our sacred home environment? Do we strive to make our home as nice as we can to make up for being surrounded by industrial complexes, power lines, and a barrage of advertisements and signage at work and elsewhere? Is this one of the reasons (barring extreme weather in some locations) why we have become such an indoors-oriented society? Do so many remotely-working people fail to leave the house every day for lack of anywhere nicer to go?
Exploring Ways to Engage Despite Unappealing Surroundings
Even when we clearly need to get out of the house for visual inspiration and social stimulation, we are less motivated if we have nowhere interesting to go. As frustrating as that can be, it is still worth it because you never know what interesting people you’ll encounter. Any civil exchange with another person is an opportunity to grow and to bless another – whether with a kind word, a smile, helpful advice, or service. We need one another, even strangers, to grow and function. And if your neighbourhood desperately needs a beautification project, connect with others to see what you can do. Find information about neighbourhood committees or zoning meetings. Meet your local jurisdiction representatives. Learn more about your neighbours and your area. Chances are, you are bound to meet someone new and learn something new. Keep a humble enough attitude to stay open to these possibilities.
Practical Reasons to Leave the House Every Day
If you work at home or find yourself at home for the majority of your time for any reason, make an effort to leave the house every day. If you cannot find a reason compelling enough to do so, consider the following suggestions for motivation. These apply even if you find yourself so busy at home – whether with work or caring for children – that you don’t have a lot of extra time to spare for leisure.
1. Go on a Grocery Run
As Aladdin said, ‘gotta eat to live, gotta steal to eat’ – except, ideally, we gotta shop to eat. Grocery shop, that is. You have to get food to eat, so unless you are a homesteader living 100% off of the land, you need to go to the grocery store or market to secure your sustenance. Rather than going once a week or two and loading your car with a dozen grocery bags to lug home, get a manageable amount and then go more frequently throughout the week for fresh produce.
You could make an effort to buy something new each trip. This introduces risk and novelty into an otherwise routine purchase. For coffee lovers, I suggest fixing a to-go cup and perusing the grocery in the morning while sipping your drink. This makes shopping a more relaxing and pleasurable experience. While we are masking, enjoy that cup while strolling outside or while relaxing in your car just before shopping.
2. Spend a Day Working at a Café
This option is only viable if you do not already care for children at home, but it is perfectly viable if you have a babysitter or other helper at the house to keep a safe watch while you work – whether at home or not. Even though you won’t have the inherent comforts of home (customized menu, preferred seating, exact temperature preference, etc.), you benefit from outside stimulation and unpredictable inspiration.
3. Shop Local
Yes, it is easier to buy in bulk on Amazon or at Target, but what are otherwise soulless experiences can become charming excursions if you instead choose to peruse a smaller, locally-owned establishment. Yes, you may spend more money. But in the grand scheme of things, you are spending in your enlightened best interest because you are investing in other people, not corporations – and that which circulates in your regional economy benefits you and those around you. Yes, you may have to coordinate a planned trip around more limited (and human) retail hours. Yes, you may need to coordinate a babysitter in order to relax and focus. However, it is worth it. Even if you don’t buy anything, you expose yourself to new sights and new people. You learn a little more. When you fully engage and participate in the present experience, you enjoy life.
4. Explore a New Park
Exercise is always a benefit and a good excuse to get out. It is productive because you improve your health – physical, mental and emotional. It’s both relaxing and invigorating because it calms your mind and strengthens your will and belief in your own abilities. And walking is considered exercise. So even if physical limitations or a little laziness prevent you from running or doing anything strenuous, a brisk walk to the best of your ability (and that pace will look different for everyone) is exercise because it elevates your heart rate and moves your entire body. But don’t let any form of exercise get boring. If walking in your neighbourhood bores you to tears, make a point to check out a new park each week. If you have kids, they may enjoy exploring new scenery, too!
5. Join a Wellness Group
If joints or other issues prevent you from much walking, engage in any activity that moves your body. Get a bike. Find an affordable local pool at which to swim. Practice yoga at a nearby studio. Check your local library programming for any free activities. A rural library near my city offers free tai chi classes. Even if you don’t elevate your heart rate, body movement is still beneficial – especially when it promotes balance and stretching. Yes, it may be more convenient to find yoga videos on YouTube to do in your spare time at home. And that is better than not moving much at all! But if you are able to incorporate a nearby physical group into your schedule, you will reap more benefits from the social connection and in-person attention, things we missed during 2020.
There are obviously so many other ways to get out of the house. Who wouldn’t love to find a party, volunteer your skills with a helpful organization, join a fun group or class, or indulge in a shopping spree with a friend? These things are important too, and hopefully we can find safe and healthy ways to incorporate them on weekends or on occasion. But the above ideas are a few things that are easier to justify with a busy at-home schedule.
Don’t Underestimate the Small Things That Supplement an Otherwise Isolated Routine
When you work from home – whether working a paid job remotely, providing full-time care for young children, or balancing both, it can be hard to fit ‘excursions’ into your routine that don’t interrupt children’s naps or strain your functioning schedule in some way or another. Sometimes it feels easier to order household items online and to not go anywhere on any given day. We are reluctant to not disrupt our routine’s flow. But without external input, that flow gets stale. It does not benefit anyone to stay home for long periods of time. Social stimulation and other sights and activities help us to stay out of our own heads too much, and allow much-needed outside input that we can’t predict or program.
Even if you do not leave your own neighbourhood, you can still meet new neighbours or engage in ones you already know when you go on a walk! There is something about fresh outside air that energizes you when you cross the threshold of your front door, no matter how hot or cold it is. Find ways to regularly engage in the world outside of your home if you otherwise have no pressing reason to leave the house every day. The best part is that when you return to your home, you will be newly grateful for your own space!