Feng Shui for Anxiety and Burnout

With the hustle and bustle of our everyday lives, it can be easy to become overwhelmed and anxious, or to even experience symptoms of burnout from the stress. Fortunately, we can draw on ancient practices to help us find balance and restore peace in our lives. Feng shui is an ancient Chinese practice of arranging your environment to create harmony, balance, and positive energy. This blog post will discuss how feng shui can be used to help reduce anxiety and burnout.​

In 2007 I was a senior manager in a retail company, where I was responsible for a lot of stores, a lot of product, a lot of people and a lot of money. I was also married with 3 kids under the age of 11. My oldest son had also been diagnosed with Crohn’s disease less than 2 years prior so I was responsible for taking him to the children’s hospital every month for testing and treatment… and the children’s hospital is a 9 hour drive from home! So, needless to say, I was doing A LOT of travelling between work and my son’s doctor’s visits. 

I started feeling really tired but I honestly just ignored it. Then shortly before Christmas in late 2007 (the absolute busiest time for me at work) I had my first ever panic attack. I had never had one before and I thought I was losing my mind. I continued to have panic attacks and yet I continued to push through because I had a job to do and kids to take care of. 

In January 2008 I couldn’t do it anymore. My body just shut down. For the first time in my life, I could not function. I had such severe anxiety that I couldn’t even walk out my own front door. There was no way I could work when I was afraid to leave my house. I was burned out and it became very clear that for many, many years I had taken care of everyone else around me but I hadn’t taken care of me.

If you're feeling burned out or struggling with depression or anxiety, there are some steps you can take in your home to help raise your energy levels and get back to feeling like yourself. Feng shui provides some useful tips for increasing the positive energy in your home and life. By doing this, you can help prevent burn out and address any issues related to depression or anxiety.

Today I want to share with you a few things you can do in your home to prevent burn out and also to help you overcome any depression or anxiety that is going on in your life right now. When your home’s energy is high, your personal energy is high. Feng shui has some ways you can improve the energy in your home and life to get you feeling like yourself again.

Check the mess: Your house is an extension of you. Whenever you’re feeling frantic, anxious or overwhelmed, look for the mess somewhere in your home. When you have a mess in your house, it symbolizes a mess in your life. Where is your mess? In the basement? In the garage? In closets? Find your messes and start tackling them, one at a time. 

Add grounding elements to your home: When you’re burned out (or almost at that point), your mind is on overdrive which can also lead to adrenal fatigue and exhaustion. To slow down your monkey brain, bring some earth elements into your home. A really good area to put these in is the center of your home because the center of your home affects all other areas. Also consider the NE corner of your home, which is the spirituality and personal development area. This is also a great area to set up a space to meditate, to do some journaling or some yoga and breathwork. Bring in earth elements such as crystals, natural stones, and  items made of clay or terra cotta. Use earth colours, such as brown, beige and yellow to calm down the energy in that area. 

Inject some colour into your life: Colour has such a huge impact on your mind and your overall energy. When you feel all alone and need some help, wear white to help lift your energy and bring helpful people into your life, Wear red to give you strength, protection and courage. To help you feel more loving towards yourself, wear green and when you’re feeling overwhelmed with too many demands, wear blue to help you feel cared for. 

Take a bath in epsom salts: The salt draws out any negative energy that your body is holding onto. One night when I felt extremely anxious, I ran myself a bath with bath salts and I actually sat there and did a meditation in the tub. That combination worked so well, I did it every night for a month! 

Give yourself a break: Yes, there are things you can and should do to shift the energy that is surrounding you when you’re having a rough time in your life. Besides implementing the feng shui tips I just gave you, I want you to start being kinder to yourself. You’re not Wonder Woman. You can’t do it all nor do you need to. As a perfectionist VIrgo I am the first person to tell you that letting go of things is not easy… but it needs to be done in order for you to be healthy. Delegate things to other people. Reach out and ask for help. Be kind to yourself and forgive yourself for things.