By Catherine Morgan
As the colder winter months draw to a close and the natural world begins to awaken from its slumber, we can start to look forward to the lighter, brighter days to come. A time of renewal, rejuvenation, and growth, spring is typically the season for deep cleaning the home – but it can also be a good opportunity to tackle our mental and emotional clutter, too. For those of us who are feeling tired, overwhelmed, and weighed down by life’s pressures, now is the time to identify the things that no longer serve us, and to introduce some healthy habits that do. Here are six tips for spring cleaning your life.
Out With The Old
A clean, tidy home isn’t just for show; it can have huge benefits for our mental health, too. Mess and visual chaos can leave us feeling stressed, anxious, and overwhelmed, so a good clear out can be liberating, especially when we let go of things that are making us unhappy.
For inspiration, there are several shows dedicated to the de-cluttering cause, such as the Netflix series Tidying Up with Marie Kondo, or the UK’s own version, Stacey Solomon’s Sort Your Life Out, which aired on BBC One. But for those who need additional help and support, there are plenty of professional organisers who are ready to help with our clutter mountains.
For some, the de-cluttering process can be a hard and painful experience – especially if there’s a tendency to cling on to the past; so be prepared to face some difficult emotions, such as nostalgia, guilt or overwhelm. But it can be freeing, too. Getting rid of excess possessions can give us the space to breathe again, to feel inner peace, and to welcome in new opportunities.
Do: Break your tasks down into smaller bites – so focus on decluttering a room, a cupboard, a drawer, a shelf… rather than the entire house, which is likely to stop us from ever getting started. Ask yourself questions such as ‘Do I need it?’, ‘Do I love it?’, and ‘Do I use it?’ – whilst Marie Kondo’s ‘Does it spark joy?’ can certainly be helpful, it doesn’t necessarily cover some of our more practical items!
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Social Media Spring Clean
It’s hard to ignore all the terrible things happening in the world, especially when bombarded 24/7 with stories of tragedy, wrong-doing, and doom and gloom. To some extent, this is an inevitable part of a society that’s always online – yet ultimately, the power lies with us to control what we’re viewing.
Those suffering with regular bouts of the ‘scrolling blues’ – whether due to too much news in our feed or too much focus on other people’s lives which can leave us dissatisfied with our own – may benefit from a social media spring clean; one that requires a good hard look at who we’re following and why.
Do: Focus time and effort on accounts that produce feel-good content and unfollow those that leave you feeling stressed and unhappy. Swap news-heavy content for other things that make you feel good – whether that’s comedy, gardening, cooking, or cats doing funny things.
Relationship Review
The people that surround us can influence our mood, self-esteem, energy, and goals – either positively or negatively. If we feel we’re being dragged down, drained of energy, or misused in our relationships, it’s probably time to reassess whether we want to keep hold of them.
But a relationship spring clean can mean more than just detaching ourselves from those who aren’t making us happy; it can also be a time to nurture existing relationships and to open ourselves up to new ones.
Do: Ask yourself, are you holding on to a relationship out of obligation or loyalty? Is the relationship salvageable or has it run its natural course? For relationships that need some TLC, schedule in some time to spend together, work on your communication, or find ways to reconnect.
Dietary Clean Up
The cold, long days of winter have likely pushed some of us to eat more and to make not-so-healthy food choices – and that’s fine. But now that the heaviness of winter has lifted, we may feel ready to clean up our eating habits by focusing less on rich, stodgy and sweet comfort foods, and more on foods that are nutrient-dense, colourful and health-promoting.
Nutritional Therapist Nicola Moore says that it’s a good time to take advantage of the lighter days, and how they make us feel better emotionally – and to use this as an opportunity to bring more colour and fragrance into our diets, for example through the use of herbs, which can be kept in pots in the kitchen. She also recommends adding one or two extra vegetables or salad items to each meal, or a side salad to main meals to bring freshness to the table; and to swap alcoholic drinks for non-alcoholic versions such as apple cider vinegar with sparkling mineral water – but in a wine glass so that you still feel that you’re having an adult drink.
Do: Add some colour to each meal – think the colours of the rainbow, and more; and focus on foods that are in season. Leave ultra-processed foods on the supermarket shelves, and get into the habit of meal planning to avoid the pull of quick convenience.
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Moving With The Season
If physical activity has become a thing of the pre-winter past, now could be a good time to revisit and renew fitness goals. As the days get longer and the evenings lighter, we may be more motivated to move our bodies – or to revamp existing workout routines.
Tailoring activities to the new season could mean earlier or later workouts or a change of venue – i.e. the great outdoors, which has its own mental health benefits. Whatever the fitness goals, just ensure they’re realistic and sustainable.
Movement also aids lymphatic flow (see our previous post Going with the Flow – Lymphatic Style) – and thereby helps the body’s housecleaning system deal with our internal clutter.
Do: Move your body more. It doesn’t have to be strenuous exercise – a brisk walk in the fresh air, a yoga session, or a bike ride all can help clear the mind, relieve stress, and improve mood.
De-Clutter Your Thoughts
Many of us have a lot going on in our heads – things to do, people to see, negative mind chatter, and so on… Clearing out unwanted or unnecessary thoughts can make us feel emotionally lighter and provide some much-needed space to focus on other areas of our life that require attention.
There are many ways to approach a cluttered mind, and the key thing is to find out what works for you. This could include journaling, mediation, visualization, talking things over, or even just making lists of things that need to be done so that you don’t need to lie awake at night thinking about them.
Daily gratitude practice, affirmations, and mind healing meditations can also be useful tools for shifting a negative mindset to a more positive one.
Do: Take some time to de-clutter your mind of unhelpful thoughts. Find a technique that suits you so that you can enter the new season with peace, optimism, and an open mind to new opportunities.
A spring clean can have benefits beyond a beautiful home – and it isn’t limited to our houses. Whilst some things in life are beyond our control, there is much we can do to make things better for ourselves. As the season of rebirth, spring can be a good time to re-evaluate, reorganise and de-clutter various aspects of our lives – whether it be our home, relationships, diet, finances, social life, sleeping patterns, or anything else that needs attention. Even small changes can make a big difference; and if we make a start now, we’ll hopefully be full of the joys of spring come March!
