National Relaxation Day: How Does Your Environment Make You Feel?

Today is National Relaxation Day; an annual reminder to slow down, unwind and make a little space for ourselves.

But we'd like to look at relaxation from a slightly different perspective.

When we think about relaxing, we tend to think about activities.

Going for a walk. Sitting in the garden. Reading. Listening to music. Having a cup of tea. Spending time with family. Or perhaps simply doing nothing for a while.

But there's another question worth asking:

What about the environment we're trying to relax in?

The spaces around us matter

Think about the different environments you move through during an average week.

Your home. Your workplace. The school your children attend. Parks and green spaces. Sports clubs. Community buildings. Gardens and outdoor areas.

We don't simply use these places. We experience them.

And sometimes our response to an environment happens without us consciously thinking about it.

A beautiful green space can invite you to sit for another ten minutes.

An untidy or cluttered room can make it harder to switch off.

A clean, fresh environment can feel welcoming.

An unloved or poorly maintained area can make somewhere feel very different, even if you can't immediately put your finger on why.

So perhaps National Relaxation Day is an opportunity not just to stop...

…but to stop and notice.

Three things to try today

1. Stop and look

Choose somewhere you spend a lot of time and deliberately look at it as though you're seeing it for the first time.

Then ask yourself:

Does this space make me feel the way I want to feel here?

Don't analyse it too much. Notice your immediate reaction.

2. Identify what's affecting the feeling

What makes the environment work..... and what doesn't?

It might be greenery, natural light, cleanliness, noise, clutter, maintenance, temperature, colour or simply having somewhere comfortable to sit.

Sometimes relatively small things have been irritating us for so long that we've stopped consciously noticing them.

3. Change one thing

Don't turn relaxation into another enormous project.

Change one thing.

Clear the desk.

Open the window.

Cut back something overgrown.

Sit outside.

Put the phone away.

Tidy the room.

Spend ten minutes somewhere green.

Then stop again and notice whether anything feels different.

Live. Work. Play.

At Vital, our working lives revolve around looking after environments, so perhaps we're more inclined than most to notice them.

But National Relaxation Day raises a much bigger question than facilities management.

Are we creating places that actually help people feel the way we'd like them to feel?

Not just places that are functional.

Places that feel welcoming.

Places people enjoy spending time in.

Places that allow us occasionally to stop.

So today, wherever you happen to be, give yourself five minutes.

Put the phone down.

Look around

And ask yourself one simple question:

How does this place make me feel?

You might be surprised by the answer.

Transforming Your World.