Happiness may be subjective, but it doesn't mean you shouldn't have it in your life.
If you've recently bought a house, you probably have just encountered a time full of stress, upheaval through moving, a lack of sleep and even a loss of leisure time.
All of these factors might be contributing to your emotions feeling a little down. Of course, you might be suffering from mental illness, in which case you should consult a healthcare professional or call Lifeline on 13 11 14.
Our attitudes and expectations also have an impact on how we feel, and our ability to live happily. With the amount of money being spent on a house, we often have gone through a period of having unrealistically high expectations.
This is one of the reasons why people feel unhappy after waiting for a big day like a wedding or a graduation. While the event or moments may be happy, it's normal to feel deflated afterward. In some cases, you might even have regrets of how the day went, or wish you had spent the time differently.
This same emotionally wave can also happen after you've moved into a new house. However, unlike a one-off event, you will feel like you are stuck with the decisions you have made for the rest of your life.
Some of the tell-tale signs you are unhappy in your new home may present themselves at different times.
You are irritated when you have to spend time at home.
You can't quite put your finger on it, but you're definitely not pleased to be here. You feel trapped like you'd rather be anywhere else.
You'd rather go to friends houses, then entertain in your own home.
A new home should be exciting, and you should want to show it off to family and friends. To not want to entertain may be a red flag that you have the post-purchase blues.
You get easily annoyed or even angry at features in your home.
"Stupid curtain!" You yell at the inanimate object which has done nothing but hang there.
You can't sleep at night.
You literally can't even sleep in this place. What is it good for? Well, maybe absolutely nothing.
You want what you can't have.
You find yourself peaking in Domain on the weekends. Your search history is scattered with real estate listings and you can't stop spying on your neighbours, wondering how the other half lives.
The easy solution to unhappiness would be to move, but this might lose you lots of money in the process. The best approach is to first, focus on what makes you the most unhappy about your home, and see how you can remedy those things.
If you are fortunate enough to be happy where you are, consider yourself lucky. It's hard to tell how a home will make us feel based off a couple of inspections. The best thing to do is to make a list of what you value most about a good experience you have had living somewhere and find a new home which meets these expectations.