When you come back to your home after a long day of work, deadlines, errands, and emotional energy spent, you deserve a space that is a sanctuary for relaxation, not stress. Your home and its cleanliness reflect your mind and emotional well-being. If you find yourself incredulous of the statement, then accept that you’re in the minority.

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When you have the luxury of free time in your home, it should serve you in a way that energizes you towards not just who you are, but who you want to be. This can only happen when there’s harmony of function, individualism, and relaxation in your design choices.

Lighting

Sure, warm light is nice, lamps are chic, but nothing replaces the warm glow of a well-lit candle. There’s no excuse not to own them because they work for any home design. Victorian? candleabra. Japandi? Lantern. Minimalism? A votive. If you’re more interested in visual art similar to James Turrell, sans the six-figure price tag, these luminous abstracts are an interesting conversation piece for your home.

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Fabrics

When you get into bed at night, God forbid you are touching an under-300-thread-count sheet, or worse, polyester. Your endocrine system deserves better than polyester as a lounging fabric. We found the incredible duvets, throws, and sheets from Coyuchi to be not only tasteful and high-quality but also sustainably made. It’s not easy to find a fabric company that’s reasonably priced with good fabrics and design.

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Aromatherapy

Skip this, it’s your comfortable living with the lie that your space smells like absolutely nothing, and you like it that way. Everywhere has its unique smell, and you certainly will become nose blind to it so long as it isn’t a bad one. An oil burner like this gorgeous piece from Studio Wilson, made for Aesop, is a winner with your signature scent, and the solid bronze makes for a great conversation starter.

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Aromatherapy may also lead you to incense, but caution, as many contain harmful PFAS, which will do more harm than good in the long run for your health. An alternative we like are room sprays on curtains, couch, or even on lampshades. Fabric is best for room sprays to last since they’ll retain the scent longer. After all, you wouldn’t just spray perfume on your floor.

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The ritual…

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Life is mercurial, and naturally, we look for ways to take the edge off. Rituals provide us with a healthy, tried-and-true way to unwind, prepare, and focus on the good. Your home ritual will be unique to you, and it’s in the nuances that you’ll find true joy. When deciding your ritual, a general rule of thumb is that if it reduces decision fatigue, improves sensory comfort, or invites presence, it’s a good thing.

Simple rituals you’ve heard of life meditation during the night or morning are a given, but the new rave is low screentime. This can be not sleeping with your phone in your room or using the phone lock brick.

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Sound​

Acoustics truly transform a space, for better or worse. There are sound systems tailored for large spaces, think bowers and wilkins, and others for smaller or medium spaces like Sonos. Regardless of which you choose, there’s one hard-and-fast rule: if you appreciate sound and plan to host anyone, you must own a subwoofer, and you’ll benefit from placing it in an optimal spot, which you’ll find by doing a sub crawl. Now’s never been a better time to own a Sonos system, as the new CEO has tightened things up and many of its speakers can stream lossless audio.

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Your abode is a paradigm for your mental health, analogous to the way our physical health is to our spiritual health (more on that in another post). Unlike our physical appearance, it is something we can keep to ourselves, but even if we do, the reality of its stasis, intentionally kept, or neglected in its squalor, still remains.

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In this age of a persistent online culture, due to remote work and the events of 2020. We believe it’s time we make our living spaces a divine place where the outside world can be put on pause. A place so wonderful that we treat it as a gift, we so desire to invite others to dwell with us, even if only for a moment.

We are living a lie thinking that working 10,000 hours at something means we will have mastered it or deserve such recognition. Anyone can spend 10,000 hours picking up the bad habit of inefficiency, thinking that if they “grind it out” or “put the hours in,” the intended results will come; they might, but at what cost? 10,000 hours when it could have taken you 2,000?

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We have (at least some of us) evolved out of the “put in the hours” mentality. With the level of access we have to the same tools, information, and methods of instant digital communication, we can build systems to achieve anything we want much faster than in the previous decade.

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Whether those goals are financial, habit-based, or skills-based, there are free resources that will help you reach those goals quickly and more easily than just spending countless hours working. Willpower alone isn’t enough to achieve your goal or break a habit, and it can be dangerously unsustainable.

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Instead, try this: assess when you fail, then build a failsafe with intentionality to reach a goal or break a habit. Building a failsafe starts with presence and contemplation, asking “what was I doing when I failed,” or ask why 5 times why a system failed, or you fell short on a goal, then build or adjust systems to circumvent the failure when the same conditions occur again. This way, you’re assessing the results of your action, rather than just thinking “I have to work harder” or “have more discipline.”

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Successful people are constantly looking at results, because what occurs is reality; effort can be lied about and faked easily. They aren’t celebrating their efforts, but rather their successes and learnings from failure. Identifying the most efficient way to get what you want requires experimentation. Testing different methodologies, studying people who have figured it out, think of it like reviewing game tape.

However, you have to know you’re playing the right game. When you chase something you don’t really want, there’s dissonance that can lead to self-sabotage. So ask yourself, what the heck do I even want… Is this worth going all in on? What will happen if I fail? What will happen if I win? Then lastly, is that goal too small?

Asking if it’s “too small” isn’t because bigger is better, but more so, mediocrity is a sure path to failure. If we set our goals too small, only requiring us to grow slightly, they will appear to us too easy, we’ll think we can do that whenever, and then it’ll never get done.

An example: I was talking to a loved one who told me she wanted to lose 10 pounds. My first thought was that sounds very doable, but then it made me realize this person could likely lose 30 lbs and be in a healthy weight range (I know this because I knew them when they weighed 30 lbs less, an assumption like this without context is wild, I know).

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I later chatted with her and respectfully expressed my thoughts. “Hey, I think you should aim for losing 20 lbs. The reason is that I know you can lose 10 lbs, but think about how easy it is to gain back 10 lbs. Also, to lose 20lbs, you’ll have to be disciplined longer, which will force you to fully acclaimate the lifestyle.” She agreed with me wholeheartedly and is already down 7 lbs towards her goal.

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This article is obviously not about weight; that’s myopic. It’s about you getting the most from life, even if that feels a bit scary at first. Building processes that help you achieve what you want requires purposeful thinking that results in transformation. Even better is that, along the way, being present in your journey of small failures and big wins, you’ll learn which methodologies are made for you, because what works for me isn’t going to work for you the same way.

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There are countless resources to choose from to start, stop, and achieve just about anything in this life, but it’s the nuances of finding what works for you that make life just that much more romantic. Call it a twist on an old classic if you’d like.

Examining the social response to the devastation caused by the LA fires, people want to blame others, but ultimately, this is impossible to have total control over. So how the hell can you hedge your bets and invest in an abode where you can trust that nature will not turn on you unpredictably?

Before we answer that question let's get our facts straight: these natural disasters are becoming more common due to climate change, the amount of emissions, and the warming of our planet since the Industrial Revolution. We recently passed the 1.5 degree Celsius threshold; something scientists hoped we'd avoid or extend our earth's runway until we reached that point.

Today, safety from natural disasters is a serious consideration as we work hard to obtain the buying power to purchase property, whether in the US or elsewhere. This is for a good reason: buying property is an investment, and when hail ruins your roof, hurricanes blow trees over onto your property, or a fire leaves little left of your home, the expense can be debilitating. Home buyers' risk tolerance lowers yearly as we hear about weather catastrophes that devastate homes. However, this is Earth Comfort, so let's hone in on the positives. Yes, there are upsides.

The upside to a warming planet: previously thought places considered too cold to most are becoming all the more pleasant. Picture a plane that was usually cold and rainy now experiencing fewer rainy days and warmer temperatures, giving way to population growth: Scotland and Ireland are just that. Places generally thought of as exclusively winter destinations, like the Dolomites or, if we think of the US, Aspen & Tahoe, are now more temperate during the summer months yet still enjoyable during the winter months. After all, they're still tourist destinations.

If you want to look for a residence with advanced infrastructure and sustainable policies, a climate-resilient location is your best bet. Nordic countries continue to lead the way in renewable energy and reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. Iceland, in particular, continues to grow in population and GDP. For a complete list of countries ranked by emissions, refer to the climate change performance index.

Another option if you want to live despite impending natural disasters is to purchase a climate-proof home. These homes are built to withstand fires, winds, and earthquakes. However, your property value will still drop if you're the only neighbor with a home post-natural disaster. We're thinking entirely economically and considering how ecology affects the former- do with that as you may.

Navigating today’s real estate market means looking beyond traditional factors and accounting for the growing impact of climate change. By focusing on climate-resilient locations and climate-proof housing options, you can future-proof your investment while enjoying a better quality of life. The world is changing, but your home can be a haven with the right approach. The risk may be rising, but so are the solutions. With careful planning, you can stay ahead of the curve and safeguard your investment.

Another rotation offers us the opportunity to realign ourselves with our true selves. Our publication focuses on the luxuries of health and intentional consumption, so we won’t stray from our lane; after all, it’s our mission- but stop to ask yourself, do you have a mission? Or do you feel you need one?

Seriously, why are you here on earth? Have you found yourself naturally gravitating towards something your whole life? Is that something a part of your everyday life? For us at Earth, comfort means conscious consumption, health, and striving for immaculate taste. We hope that’s why you stick with us this year.

We found our mission simply by observing the three things that we were constantly interested in at all times of each year. What’s amazing is there’s a niche for everything and a community, and where there’s a community, there’s an opportunity to make an honest living and, even better, an impact.

This year, we encourage you not to say yes to every opportunity but to align with your mission. Acknowledge that your mission is subject to evolve and grow like yourself. Then, say “no” to things opposite to your mission or take away from the life you want to live. Honesty time: One-half of Earth Comfort goes to bed at 9 pm and wakes up at 5 am. A life they’ve decided allows them to operate where they feel good.

We’ll never be perfect, but we encourage you to experiment with your life to bring you better health alongside intentional consumption. Eat earlier, exercise more routinely, and maybe sleep with your phone in a different room if you’re brave. Before you shop for the brand-new Prada bag, opt for a vintage Chanel or Margiela bag- maybe that one’s too easy. Perhaps instead of taking three flights this year, take two and go glamping on the nearest national preserve to your residence.

We celebrate our first post as a fresh start to commonly sound ideas presented with novel perspectives. There’s a lot of noise, we’re the filter. We can’t tell you what your mission is, but we encourage you to seek out what it is and find a way to move towards fulfilling it every day in 2025. So happy new year or to those in business, have a good Q1.

Cheers,

Earth Comfort

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