Living in a small space has always required compromises, and now that many of us are working from home indefinitely, our environment can feel even tighter than before.
The potential mental health consequences of feeling confined to your space became especially apparent during the worst of the pandemic, when “a lot of people felt very cooped up and it caused anxiety and some depression,” says Kathleen Kendall-Tackett, a psychologist at health. at the Texas Tech University School of Medicine. But while it’s true that compact spaces can feel claustrophobic or stressful, they can also feel calming and welcoming with the right approach. As Jaime Kurtz, professor of psychology at James Madison University, points out: “As a species, we evolved in small spaces. We did not evolve to live in 3,000 square foot houses.”
