7 Environment Changes That Can Dramatically Elevate Your Wellbeing
Discover powerful ways to enhance your wellbeing through strategic changes to your environment. This article presents seven transformative approaches, backed by expert insights, to create spaces that nurture your mental and physical health. From crafting personal sanctuaries to redesigning workspaces, these practical tips offer a path to a more balanced and fulfilling life.
- Create a Sanctuary for Mental Health
- Embrace Mindful Walks for Daily Renewal
- Clear Energy to Transform Your Space
- Design a Nature-Inspired Workspace for Focus
- Transform Your Garden for Improved Wellbeing
- Brighten Your Workspace to Boost Motivation
- Build Your Own Business for Outdoor Freedom
Create a Sanctuary for Mental Health
The most profound environmental change for my well-being was designing my own psychiatry practice with the goal of making it feel nothing like a typical clinic.
Throughout my medical training, I worked in settings that were sterile, impersonal, and unintentionally anxiety-provoking. The harsh lighting and cold, rigid furniture felt like barriers to the very human connection my work requires. I noticed that this environment put me on edge just as much as it did my patients, and I knew I had to create something different.
When I started my practice, I deliberately chose soft lighting, deeply comfortable armchairs, and quiet, private spaces. My goal was to build a sanctuary, not just an office. This shift from a clinical to a comfortable setting was transformative for my mental state. Working every day in a space that reflects my core values of safety and compassion allows me to be a more grounded and present physician.
It’s a constant physical reminder that the environment we inhabit shapes our inner world. By creating a space of intentional calm for others, I found I had built one for myself, too.
Ishdeep Narang, MD
Child, Adolescent & Adult Psychiatrist | Founder, ACES Psychiatry, Orlando, Florida
Embrace Mindful Walks for Daily Renewal
As a high-achiever, I used to believe I needed to cram every ounce of my free time into productivity and multi-tasking, or I was wasting precious time. If I were driving, I’d listen to personal development podcasts or TED talks. If I were walking, I’d catch up on calls. While waiting in line to check out, I’d respond to emails. Rest was something I used to think I had to earn.
However, when the pandemic hit, like most people, I began to reevaluate my work-life balance and whether or not all of my hustling was truly serving me.
One of my favorite environmental changes I’ve implemented is taking short, mindful walks during the day, placing my phone in airplane mode. Instead of multitasking, I choose to unplug and focus on all of my senses, noticing the warmth of the sun or a cool breeze, the sound of the wind or birds chirping around me, and how the ground feels beneath my feet.
This small mindful walk not only elevates my mood and energy but also enhances my ability to problem-solve and think creatively. One small daily shift can make a tremendous difference in your overall well-being.
April Likins
Board-Certified Health Coach | Trained at Duke | Stress & Work-Life Balance Speciality, Wellness With April, LLC
Clear Energy to Transform Your Space
One of the most powerful shifts in my well-being came when I committed not just to decluttering my physical space, but also to energetically clearing it. I used to think that tidying up and organizing were enough, but I soon realized that even in a spotless room, something could still feel off. That’s when I understood the weight of energetic clutter: the emotional residue, stress, grief, arguments, or other people’s energy that lingers long after the moment has passed.
Decluttering gave me visual and physical relief, but it was space clearing that brought deep peace. I started treating my environment as a living, breathing field that reflects and affects my inner world. Clearing both the visible and invisible layers of a space dramatically improved my mental clarity, emotional stability, and overall mood. My nervous system began to settle in a way it hadn’t before.
Energetic clutter can be just as overwhelming as physical clutter. It’s the unseen heaviness that makes you feel tired in a room for no clear reason or unsettled in a home that should feel like a sanctuary. Once I began clearing both, my space became an ally in my healing rather than another source of stress. It changed everything.
Lais Stephan
Space Clearing Expert, My Healing Sanctuary
Design a Nature-Inspired Workspace for Focus
One of the most impactful environmental changes I made for my well-being was shifting my work setup from a traditional office space to a hybrid model that allowed me to work closer to nature several times a week. A few years ago, I realized that while I was scaling Zapiy.com and building a fast-paced digital operation, I had unintentionally built a physical space that encouraged overstimulation—constant pings, harsh lighting, and zero separation between tasks and rest.
So I made a decision that felt small at first but became transformative: I carved out a dedicated workspace near a large window at home with natural light, greenery outside, and zero clutter. I also started working from a small co-working space once a week that was intentionally designed to feel more like a living room than a cubicle farm. The goal wasn’t just aesthetics—it was about regaining calm and presence in my work.
The change in my mental state was immediate. I found myself more focused, less reactive, and oddly more creative. I stopped feeling like I had to “push through” my day. Instead, I found a rhythm that let me go deep into strategic thinking and step back when needed without guilt. My stress levels dropped noticeably, and I started ending my days with more mental clarity and energy.
What I’ve learned is that your environment—physical or social—either supports your growth or quietly drains you. It’s not about moving to a mountain cabin or creating a Pinterest-perfect office. Sometimes it’s just about being intentional with what surrounds you and removing friction points that sap your focus. In my case, sunlight, simplicity, and a sense of personal ownership over my space made all the difference.
Transform Your Garden for Improved Wellbeing
My wellbeing improved massively once I was able to make my garden usable. It had been a jungle for several years, and not having access to an outside space really impacted my mental health. I work from home and am a single parent to my severely disabled child. This means I’m often quite isolated.
Being able to sit in the garden and work from there, or even just sit outside while I drink my morning coffee, has really improved my overall wellbeing.
I think that the process itself was when I felt a shift in my happiness. Getting my hands dirty digging over the space meant I got more vitamin D than I had in years. Once I’d laid turf and purchased some garden furniture, the sense of accomplishment further elevated my wellbeing. To the point where I went from struggling to get up in the mornings to suddenly looking forward to getting my son on the school bus so I could spend the next hour of my morning in the garden. Listening to the birds, planting seeds, weeding, or cutting the grass.
I have seen such a vast improvement in my overall happiness that I’ve now started helping an elderly neighbor with her own outside space, so she too can appreciate her outdoor area.
Tina Bailey
Owner, MotherGeek
Brighten Your Workspace to Boost Motivation
Moving my workspace from a dim, cluttered corner to a bright room with natural light was one of the most transformative changes I’ve made for my well-being. Before, the dark space felt heavy, almost like it was draining my motivation before I even began working. By relocating to a room with big windows, adding plants, and simplifying my desk setup, I created a space that felt open, energizing, and inspiring. I noticed my stress levels drop, my posture improve, and my focus sharpen—almost overnight.
What surprised me most was how this simple environmental change rippled into other areas of life. I became more intentional with my time, more consistent with healthy habits, and even more social because I felt better overall. It taught me that well-being isn’t only about big lifestyle changes; sometimes, it’s about adjusting the spaces we inhabit so they align with how we want to feel and live.
Maegan Damugo
Marketing Coordinator, Health Rising Direct Primary Care
Build Your Own Business for Outdoor Freedom
One of the biggest environmental changes that elevated my wellbeing was leaving the structure of working under someone else and starting Ozzie Mowing & Gardening. Shifting from being an employee to running my own business meant I had full control over the physical spaces I worked in, the projects I took on, and the type of clients I surrounded myself with. Suddenly, I wasn’t stuck in the same routine or under someone else’s idea of how a job should be done. I could use my own judgment, apply the things I’d learned across years of hands-on work, and create environments where both the plants and the people thrived. Working outdoors every day in different gardens, with natural light and fresh air as constants, completely changed my mental state. I felt more in sync with the seasons and more purposeful with each job because I was creating something lasting and meaningful on my own terms.
What made this shift not only possible but successful was the foundation of knowledge I had built up over years in the industry and my qualifications as a certified horticulturist. It wasn’t just about mowing lawns or planting flowers. I understood the soil profiles, plant physiology, seasonal cycles, and the practical steps needed to transform tired spaces into vibrant ones. That depth of knowledge gave me the confidence to work independently and to solve complex problems for my clients. This change in environment wasn’t just a career move. It brought clarity, ownership, and a sense of peace that only comes from doing meaningful work that reflects who you are.
Andrew Osborne
Owner, Ozzie Mowing & Gardening
