5 Ways to Start Mental Health Spring Cleaning
The snow is finally melting, and flower buds are starting to appear — spring is nearly upon us. Hallelujah!
Many of us take part in “spring cleaning,” a yearly practice where we declutter and organize our homes. It’s so easy to accumulate stuff through the year, and going through a spring cleaning process can help you get rid of the things you no longer need and get your home in order.
We usually talk about spring cleaning in terms of physical space. But what about your mind?
Through the year, your mind also accumulates “stuff” — like thoughts, feelings, and grudges — that may no longer be serving you. And living with a cluttered mind can start weighing you down if you don’t take it all out and organize it once in a while.
Doing a mental health spring cleaning every year can be a great opportunity to declutter your mind. I invite you to take out all the mental junk that’s been building up, organize your thoughts, and get rid of things that aren’t good for your mental health.
Here are 5 ways to go about a mental health spring cleaning.
Write in Your Journal
Journaling is a healthy habit that can give you an opportunity to look inwards and engage in deep self-reflection. During mental health spring cleaning, write about topics like:
What you want more (or less) of in your life
Your values, and how they’ve changed over the year
What you need to let go of
Your goals and how you can achieve them
Just getting your thoughts down on paper can go a long way in decluttering your mind. It can bring to the surface all of the mental clutter you’ve been carrying around so that you can start to take a good look at what’s serving you, and what’s not.
If you’ve never written in a journal before, or are looking for new and creative journaling ideas, check out my journaling guide, Story of My Life.
2. Let Go of Grudges
Think of grudges like the garbage of your mind. Sometimes when people do a spring cleaning, they find something particularly nasty — like a piece of moldy fruit under the bed, or a really dusty spot they’ve missed the whole year. Even if the rest of your home is spotless, having a piece of trash lying around makes everything stink.
In the same way, even if you have a healthy mind otherwise, holding onto a strong grudge can throw everything else out of balance. During this spring season, try to let go.
This doesn’t mean you need to invite people who have hurt you back into your life. It’s okay, and healthy, to have personal boundaries. It also doesn’t mean that what they did to you was forgivable. But holding onto constant anger often hurts you more than it hurts them.
3. Prioritize Your Goals
It can be way too easy to take on more and more projects throughout the year. This could be because you have a hard time saying “no,” or simply because you get genuinely excited about different ideas. But trying to do too much can lead to spreading yourself too thin, and not being able to do any of it well.
During mental health spring cleaning, take a look at your goals and priorities. Then, examine how you’re actually spending your time. How do these two things line up? How will the activities that fill your days help you to achieve your most important goals?
If you find a disconnect, then use mental health spring cleaning as an opportunity to reorganize your life. Bring your goals and values to the forefront of your mind, and replan your schedule accordingly.
4. Examine Your Relationships
Sometimes, we donate things that no longer serve us during spring cleaning, even though they’re perfectly useable. For example, you might give away a great sofa that just doesn’t go with your aesthetic, or a brand new dress that you never got around to wearing. In other words, things don’t need to be garbage for you to simply not need them anymore.
The same goes for your relationships. Obviously, try to let go of toxic relationships. But it’s okay to have outgrown friendships and relationships even if they aren’t necessarily toxic or abusive. Take a look at the relationships in your life. How do you feel about them?
At the same time, don’t go getting rid of all of your relationships just because they aren’t perfect. Strong interpersonal relationships are a key component of good mental health. When you think of the relationships in your life, what do you appreciate about them? What could make them stronger?
5. Spring Clean Your Home
Clutter in your physical space often leads to clutter in your mind. Although we’re specifically talking about mental health spring cleaning today, doing a literal spring cleaning (of your home) can actually help your mind, as well.
Experts say that cleaning and organizing your physical space has many mental health benefits, including:
Boosting mood
Lowering stress
Increasing focus and productivity
Improving physical health
Focusing on how spring cleaning your home can help your mental health may make you feel more motivated to get started. And after you’re done, you might find that living in a clean space makes you feel happier, healthier, and more energized.
Buy the Story of My Life journaling guide on Amazon.
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