A good home must be made, not bought.

According to market research by Angi the total addressable market for home services in 2022 was $657.4 billion. The home improvement market was $475B and grew 26% in previous year. The size of the market in total project volume was $ 665.6M projects completed annually, with year-over-year increases in both improvement projects and emergency projects. The number of home service pros in 2022 equaled 6.1 million people working for approximately 2.5 million businesses.

These numbers are not an anomaly, in fact the overall spend on home improvement grew 6% to $13,667 and an average of 11.1 projects per household in 2023 and we are on track to again see an increase in 2024.

Clearly, this represents high economic and time investments focused on the exterior and interior of the physical places where people physically reside. These amounts don’t even take into account the media empires built around home improvement projects, entertaining at home, and food as a hobby outside of necessary sustenance. These add hundreds of millions to the economy as well the time, money, and attention spent to make houses into showcases of varying degrees for the “haves” of our society.

There’s no judgment in these statements, just observation. I like a pretty pillowcase as much as the next person. My skills are home improvements that go beyond the cosmetic are virtually non-existent and I definitely believe that our external surroundings have a huge impact on the way we feel. In fact, taking care of the places we live can be a deep and very meaningful act of self-expression, creativity, and generosity.

Long live HGTV, Food Network, and all of the amazing people working to help us have safer and more beautiful physical homes. I am also extremely aware that for many people  these endeavors are rewarding and enriching.

I am also aware that many people do not have access to the means to make this a  they struggle financially, mentally, emotionally and without a strong support network. Our focus here is on providing education, resources, and support that can help change trajectories for this latter group. 

My Emotional Home Improvement Project

I have spent the past 10 years exploring (consciously) the concept of Emotional Home Ownership and Emotional Home Improvement. 

Here is my philosophy:

As individuals, we are the only people who will ever be with ourselves 100% of the time, all of our life. We are our own emotional “home caretakers” so to speak. As such it is vitally important that we be our own safe “person” to reside with day in and day out. 

Ideally, we will find comfort within the walls of our own boundaries and within our own being because we have a strong foundation of mental, emotional, and social health. Our walls exist only to support our emotional safety through self-respect, self-love, self-regulation and self-compassion.

However, for far too many of us, very few resources are invested in surveying our own emotional homes, considering if we like the views from their windows or undertaking any improvement projects in them. 

If you consider the following statistics  about investments in improving mental and emotional health from this report by SelfFInancial.com (Mental Health and Personal Finance Statistics | Self Financial )

in comparison to those referenced above about the physical home improvement market,  you will see a stark difference.

The key point being: We watch HGTV, hoarders, and the Food Network and buy “all the things” to beautify and buttress our physical houses, yet but few of us would likely spend the same amount if time or money on our emotional homes. When it comes to media, it's unlikely people en masse will tune in to see a show about mental health directly, preferring instead to watch mindless and in some cases hurtful content. This illuminates the need for more mindfulness and self-reflection across the board in society.

According to SelfFinancial.com, people are spending an average of $374.95 per month on their mental health, a 30.6% increase of $87.95 from $287 in 2020. This includes both direct expenditures such as counseling, therapy, and mental health apps and indirect such as gym memberships or exercise equipment. This means that households are spending about 30% on their mental health, the foundation of their emotional homes, of the total spent on the physical home improvements (to be clear we are looking at statistics here on home improvements, not necessary repairs). 

Alone this statistic may seem inconsequential, but when you dive a bit deeper into more clinical data, what is interesting  is that while it is estimated 23.1% of U.S. adults experienced a mental health condition in 2022, and 6% of U.S. adults experienced a serious mental health condition in 2022 (which is defined as a psychotic disorder, bipolar disorder or a severe anxiety or eating disorder that significantly impairs functioning.) (Source:Key Substance Use and Mental Health Indicators in the United States: Results from the 2022 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration), there are likely at least another 25% of people struggling with non-clinical, unreported issues that are self-treated or self-medicated with distractions and sub-clinical addictions to any number of activities and substances. 

The purpose of MESH4Success.com and our content here is not to judge, preach solutions, or be a replacement for the mental health community which is necessary and extremely helpful for millions of people. Instead, let us serve as a source of enlightenment and illumination of how much power we have to take control of our own quality of life, thoughts, behaviors, and thoughts to improve our MESH (Mental, Emotional, Social Health). It is based on my own research, education, and experience. with a strong desire to provide help and hope to as many people as possible.

I have been affected by mental, emotional, and social issues personally and professionally as I am sure so many of us have. It is my desire to help prevent and reduce the suffering specifically for children who are so innocently impacted in families where their caregivers are affected by MESH problems., which are often pervasive, intergenerational, and difficult to resolve. However, the more we open up and help  where we can, the better off all of us will be. We may discover that we need to undertake some emotional home improvement projects ourselves. 

This may mean we need to renovate or rebuild our emotional homes and relay a foundation that was constructed for us, but was not healthy for us. The good news is, we can refurbish, rebuild, renovate and, if necessary, relocate our emotional homes to places that are more welcoming and support our spiritual and mental health.

Often, it may mean we need to knock down walls that were built for us out of negative or erroneous thought patterns. We may need to change the channel on the soundtrack we play or filter the people  and opinions we allow to enter our emotional space. 

I know I have had to do this many times over. And to be honest, my life is so much better for it and for the emotional home improvement projects I have completed. Of course, I am still a work in progress. There is more work to be done. 

“Wherever You Go, There You Are” 

No matter where we move or live physically or when we have feelings of running away from ourselves or our surroundings, we cannot escape the only person with true power over ourselves and our lives - us! 

I call the feeling of wanting to “get away” from me and everything else the “squirrel feeling” but what it really is is me trying to get my own attention about something that is not sitting right with me inside my own emotional home. I finally get that when I feel this, I need to come back to me and to discover why I feel the need to be protective of my emotional and potentially my physical home, too. 

The external will not heal the internal. When the lights are off and no one is home, when we feel empty and alone, we have the power to turn the lights on and provide self-comfort. If we allow our internal spaces to be calm and quiet, we can listen for what is necessary to make our emotional homes so much more comfortable and our lives fulfilled and productive. We can then step outside of ourselves in full possession of our power so that we can achieve our true potential.  

What I share on this site are highlights from the hard work and hard won "progressive wins" that have helped me become healthier and freer to be my authentic self, despite some serious challenges and setbacks from an early age.

Here's to your MESH4Success!

Gaynor