Mental Health Spring Cleaning
It’s April and that means spring is here! For many, spring is a time of rebirth and renewal, decluttering our lives and setting us up for success for the summer and the rest of the year. I know for my household, I take the time to deep clean certain areas, go through my closet to see what items “spark joy” as Marie Kondo calls it, and organize the camping and outdoor gear for the summer. In West Seattle, they even have a springtime “West Seattle Garage Sale” where there's a whole day dedicated to people clearing out what they don’t need and helping others to buy used (May 11th, 2024, find more info here: https://westseattleblog.com/category/community-garage-sale-day/). People put so much time and effort into spring cleaning but we don’t always pay the same amount of attention in the same way to our mental health.
Enter the concept of “mental health spring cleaning”: a time dedicated annually to contemplate and assess what is useful to your mental health, no longer useful, or what’s missing from it entirely. We are creatures of habit and for many of us humans, we live by our routines without always checking in to see how or if they still work for us. Maybe we go get our favorite latte every morning on the way to work, but what if your anxiety symptoms have spiked and caffeine just makes it worse? Or scrolling through Instagram during the postpartum period to see fitness and exercise influencers tell you how to “get your body back after baby” but it makes you feel worse about the body that just carried a child for 9 whole months? Reassessing our routines, social media feeds, and just life in general can help us continue on a good path toward mental wellness.
So what does “mental health spring cleaning” look like? Here are some ideas to get you started:
Morning and evening routines - If you feel stressed every time you get out the door in the morning or if bathtime creates chaos in the evening, what are ways we can do less, prep more, or shift responsibility to other family members? This can help improve your relationship with yourself (anyone else beat themselves up when they are running late?!), with your children, partner(s), and other caregivers as well as decrease your stress and mental load during the busiest times of the day.
Movement and exercise - Do you have a nagging injury? Are you feeling out of touch with your body? Assessing how to heal and get in touch with your body may require different kinds of movement than you’re used to. As you may know, movement and regular exercise contribute greatly to our mental well-being. Maybe running hurts as you age and doing low-impact activities like yoga or swimming are a better fit for now. Making sure we are checking in with our bodies is not just a mindful activity, it helps us treat our bodies with more kindness and compassion.
Nutrition - Our diets can impact how we function day to day but also long term. Maybe you’re restricting too much or have food anxiety (looking at you millennials with “almond moms”!). Or maybe you find yourself binging on a box of cookies rather than talking about your feelings. Ask yourself about your relationship to food and get curious about how your mental health dictates your nutrition and visa versa. This could mean buying that ice cream cone when you ACTUALLY want it, or after a stressful day at work trying to journal before we grab the bag of chips.
Social - How are you feeling in your relationships? Are boundaries needed in your relationships with “energy vampires”? Do you need to reprioritize other relationships in your life? How do you feel when you're with your friends, family, partner(s), etc? This can be tough. It requires us to have uncomfortable conversations, set limits, or say “no” more often. Boundaries like these are meant to HELP your relationships, not ruin them. Practicing what you want to say in these conversations before you have them can help tremendously. Relationships ebb and flow, and change over time. It’s a natural part of life and something we do not always check in with ourselves about.
Consumption - If you find yourself waking up in the night after that Trenta iced coffee or following happy hour in the evening, maybe it’s time to change how much or how often we consume these types of things. This does not mean you cannot have these things, but maybe more moderation is needed or limits need to be set such as: not drinking caffeinated beverages after 12pm or only having 1 drink during happy hour. It can be hard to cut back on your favorite things, but it can sometimes help our mental health, relationships, and understanding of ourselves significantly.
Social media - How do the Instagram/Facebook/TikTok feeds you consume make you feel? Do we feel worse about ourselves and our lives after watching certain videos? Addressing our social media consumption can be a difficult habit to tackle but also extremely rewarding. This could mean unfollowing influencers that no longer serve your mental health, “muting” family members that post agitating pictures or information (this is an election year!), or simply taking the app off your phone or limiting the time you are on it. See how you feel after adjusting what you need to see on social media and pay attention to how much more time you get back in your day!
This is not a comprehensive mental health spring cleaning list, but it does cover many of the areas of our lives that can contribute to our mental health and well-being. I hope that by sharing this list and the idea of mental health spring cleaning, you can assess your life with kindness and curiosity and make changes that positively impact your mental health, daily life, and overall well-being.
