4 Spring Cleaning Tasks for Your Mental Health

The sun shines brighter, our days are a little longer, and pollen covers things as far as the eye can see. This means only one thing: spring has sprung.

Spring morning means different things to each of us, but perhaps most notably, it symbolizes the opportunity for a new beginning.

The idea of ​​spring cleaning, while perhaps a little boring, gives us the opportunity to evaluate what we currently have and make decisions about whether they still have a purpose for us, still bring us joy, and still have meaning for the life we ​​are currently living.

Self-talk refers to the things we say to ourselves about ourselves and is often how we are spoken to in the early years of life. If we praise when we do good things and even encourage them in mistakes, our self-talk is more positive. Although, we often criticize and feel unimportant, our self-talk can be very negative. Positive self-talk is highly correlated with things like confidence, self-esteem, and feelings of competence.

To help you better understand your own words, try this: Pick a day in the next few weeks where you will keep a record of the things you say to yourself in moments when you are proud, when you doubt, and when you are confused. Is it more positive or negative?

If this errs on the negative side, I want you to think about how you would respond to a friend who shared with you the things you wrote in your log. You are likely to be kind, caring and encouraging. Now practice using the same gentleness with yourself.

2. Minimize your digital spaces

Our physical spaces aren’t the only ones that sometimes need a little cleaning. Paying attention to where we live digitally also helps because digital distractions can lead to feeling overwhelmed.

Spend some time deleting those old text threads and any contacts you no longer interact with. Explore your social media accounts to assess who and what you’re following and unfollow anything that makes you feel less like yourself.

View photo albums on your devices and organize photos into albums. Decide which you want to print or store in some other way and which can be deleted, especially all those screenshots you told yourself you’d go back and never did.

3. Clear the way for the things you want

The loneliness of life can sometimes find us sticking to the same routines day after day because it’s easy and familiar. And if you’re a caregiver in any way, the demands and responsibilities of caring for others often feel more important than anything you want for yourself.

But attending to our own needs and wants causes us to leave feeling more satisfied and fulfilled and less depressed and angry. The spring season is a good time to consider any goals or aspirations you may have had on your back and take some steps to achieve them.

Our emotional closets sometimes hold these bags of “stuff.” There’s that frustration we haven’t made peace with. The sorrows that still keep us from being hurt. Grief is about lost opportunities or relationships.

Sometimes it can feel easy to just keep the closet door closed so you don’t have to deal with these things, but it’s very likely that their influence will show up in your life in some way. Perhaps by feeling more irritable, more anxious, or wanting to separate.

One place to start wading through these feelings is through journaling. Get a notebook (if you don’t already have a journal) and complete this exercise: If you pulled this bag of “stuff” out of your closet, what would you find there? How did you get there? What is the importance of continuing it, and what support do you need to quit it?

Simply write down whatever comes to you. Don’t judge or try to make sense of it, just write what comes to mind. Getting your thoughts down on paper can help you process your feelings and think about the “things” that are holding you back.

Does the spring season invite you to try something new to improve your mental health? I will hear about it. Share your thoughts with me at drjoy@ajc.com.