In DIY stores and garden centers, emerging spring energy is channeled - after months of standstill and the melting away of resilience, people want to feel energetic again, to tackle, repair and create. DIY stores and garden centers offer the appropriate tools and are thus sources of the self-efficacy people long for. This was the finding of a study commissioned by the BHB (Handelsverband Heimwerken, Bauen und Garten e.V.).
The garden as a place of mental hygiene and the garden center as a facilitator
"People in the Lockdown found their own gardens in particular to be a healing refuge where they could plant against their powerlessness," says study director Paul Bremer. It's also the place where stress and pent-up aggression best dissipate. The idea of not being able to adequately supply this place of mental hygiene with soil and fertilizer in the spring had triggered worry and anger in the subjects.
The DIY store, in turn, is a mental outfitter. There, people can arm themselves with tools for all situations in life. With their help, they set up projects that can make them mighty proud at the end. Here, too, people in in-depth interviews formulated the need to be able to "equip" themselves with everything they need in a timely manner so that they can always counter the deterioration of their own environment. "Repairing damage to their home is described as systemically important, just like a grocery store," Bremer says.
"Home improvement equipment is a human right"
In some cases, the test subjects would have formulated this in drastic quotes ("Do-it-yourself equipment is a human right after all. I'm not an animal that just has to be fed by the supermarket"). Most people could only endure the stagnant life in the lockdown by taking action. But many of the harmless pleasures of the first lockdown - puzzles, cooking, board games - have become stale.
Agonizing feelings of loss of life time make themselves broad. Activities that are perceived as self-effective and meaningful and that give people back a bit of perspective are particularly helpful against this. For example, one can still be the ruler of nature in the garden or can help shape one's own future by remodeling one's own home. People literally set out in search of soul food, according to the psychologist. "The psychological relief provided by crafts and plants can shift busyness from public places to one's own home."
Paul Bremer studied psychology in Lisbon, Warsaw and Hamburg as well as morphological media psychology in Berlin. After 3 years of training as an analytical intensive consultant, he has been working at the rheingold Institute since 2016. His focus as a researcher is on international research, the retail and beverage sector and political consulting. He is now a member of the management team as Sales and Insights Director
Phone: +49 221-466 828 0
E-mail: bremer@rheingold-online.de
