House Rules: You quickly feel happier by slowing down

You know the way you get back from holidays, and jump straight back into life?

It’s usually nice to be home, but then, if you’ve managed an autumn break somewhere warm, you soon feel the sun seep back out of your bones, and the last vestiges of tranquil relaxation evaporate in the face of the demands the world throws.

And you wonder, if you’re like me, what can you do to keep some of that holiday bliss back home?

One answer is not to drink tons of rosé at lunchtime, or get an upset stomach from eating oddly spiced food; instead it’s to turn your house into a Slow House.

I’ve borrowed the idea from the Slow Food movement, and it came to me when one of the nice things that had arrived in the post the last time I came home, was a cheerfully soft, warmly coloured, rich woollen blanket from McNutt’s, the Donegal Woollen Mill people.

Incredibly relaxed

They choose their colours from nature, and once wrapped up (one of the less spoken truths about underfloor heating is that it take ages to warm up if you’d turned it right off when you went to seek the sun), I felt incredibly relaxed.

Part of that also came from not switching the telly straight on, and having accidentally left my phone in the car.

So later, when I got a brief surge of energy, I set about moving the furniture.

Instead of having sofas and chairs facing the television – so that if it’s not turned on, you don’t feel like you’re staring at a black hole in the corner – they’re now at an angle.

You can still watch it, but it doesn’t dominate.

The phone goes on a shelf or a table elsewhere: like landlines used to do, and the inconvenience of having to get up to answer it is offset by losing the temptation to check emails at all hours or see who’s tweeting what.

They’re small steps but, a couple of weeks in, they’re working.

Turn off the noise, and things slow down. You might need to persuade the family to buy in, but it’s worth it.

You could always bribe them with a lovely blanket.

McNutt’s throws and blankets are from €49.95 to €125, and you can order directly at donegalwoollenmill.com