When you think about spring cleaning, you might not be thinking about spring cleaning for better mental health. Instead, it’s usually another season of deep cleaning and letting the light in. While even that is good for your mental health, I’ve got something else in mind.
This year has been more stressful than others for me personally. It’s been a mixed bag of good stress, like releasing a new book and some not so good stress. While my house is pretty easy to keep clean and doesn’t really need a deep clean, my mental health (heart, brain, mind) could use a tune up. Here’s what I have planned. I hope that by sharing these things I’ll be focused on, it will help you consider what most needs spring cleaning in your life. By the way, spring cleaning for better mental health can happen anytime of year.
Spring Cleaning for Better Mental Health
I assess the quality of my mental health by checking in and asking questions like, “How do I feel?” “Is it easy to be creative or am I forcing it?” “Am I more reactive than usual?” “Is my mind racing and making snap judgements or do I have space to be more thoughtful?” “Am I responding to stress in a healthy way or is stress affecting my sleep, work and/or relationships?” I’m not a medical professional but these questions do help me understand where I might need a little work. These are the nine things I’ll be focused on for the next few months to ease my nervous system and better my mental health.
1. I’m spending less time on social media.
For the next few months I’ll be scheduling more content for social media and spending less that 10 minutes per day posting and responding to messages and comments. I’d rather put more attention towards writing for you here and in the Simplicity Space membership program. That requires spring cleaning social media for better mental health. With more of a focus on reducing screen time, I’ll reduce my time with email too. I feel like I spent too much time “checking” while working on the book launch. I even had email back on my phone for about ten days (but that’s gone now). A few weeks ago I shared an email titled, Are You Daydreaming about a Flip Phone Too? I’m still thinking about it!
2. Transcendental Meditation is the first step to spring clean for better mental health.
Any kind of mindfulness or meditation practice works here but I learned how to practice Transcendental Meditation in March of 2019. It’s suggested that you meditate twice a day for 20 minutes. I’ve never missed a day since I started but sometimes I only practice once a day. During this recent stressful time, I’ve noticed that I’ve lost some of the ease of meditation that I enjoyed. To spring clean for better mental health, I am reading Strength in Stillness, The Power of Transcendental Meditation and taking a TM refresher class. I’m looking forward to a more consistent meditation practice of twice a day for 20 minutes.
3. Switching up my closet space will free up home space and head space.
I currently keep a small wardrobe rack in my office for ease of sharing my wardrobe on social media. While the wardrobe rack was very functional and easy to use, what I really want is a reading chair in my office. For that reason, I’m breaking down the wardrobe rack (for now) and keeping my clothes in my small bedroom closet. I may add a shelf in the bedroom closet to keep things like my handbag, tote and other accessories. I’m still committed to 33 items or less in my wardrobe. Dressing with less relieves unnecessary stress and makes me so uninterested in shopping for new items on a seasonal or emotional basis.
4. I’m closing the loop on bigger projects.
I put so much on hold while writing and launching Gentle. Now it’s time to close the loop on some of the less time sensitive but still occupying my mind projects. I’m starting with my office closet. It’s been kind of a dead space but my husband recently added shelves so I’ll be painting the closet and shelves a color that makes me smile and using the space to streamline office items. The next bigger project will be the small garden beds in our front lawn. I’d like to spruce them up! I’ll share pictures on Instagram (in less than 10 minutes a day).
5. Remember that less news = better mental health.
I not quitting the news completely like my friend Matt but I am scaling way back. I’m sticking with my no news in the mornings or evening boundary, and no news via video but I’m also getting away from daily news. Once or twice week seems like more than enough. I want to be informed enough to take action but not so informed that I’m too overwhelmed to do anything. Breaking news is broken and it’s breaking us.
6. Add a hobby or activity that includes being around other people.
I’m very happy spending a lot of time alone and I recognize that it’s really good for my mental health to spend time with other people. I just started tennis lessons and hope to join a weekly group soon. If you are thinking about getting out there too, remember that you don’t have to find a new best friend to boost your mental health. My friend Gina wrote a beautiful book called, I Want to Thank You (which reminds me I need to pick up some thank you cards). In her book she wrote, “Low stakes relationships can be high impact.” This article in The Atlantic (gift link) calls low stakes relationships “weak ties” and explains “The term was coined in 1973 by the Stanford sociologist Mark Granovetter, and it comprises acquaintances, people you see infrequently, and near strangers with whom you share some familiarity.”
Gina shares an example in her book, “As I turned to our favorite Italian food stores, it quickly became clear that while we loved the freshly made mozzarella, ravioli, rice
balls, and eggplant parm, delicious food was not the only reason we visited. We went out of our way to go to Caputo’s because of Gianluca.“Thank you for always being so kind & friendly to me and my kids,” I wrote to him. “Shopping at Caputo’s, or the ‘mozz-a-YA-YA store,’ is often the best part of our week, thanks in no small part to you.”
7. New sleep strategies are in place.
Spring cleaning for better mental health has to include better sleep. I go to bed around the same time every night. I keep my room dark and cool and generally sleep 7-8 hours a night. Because of this extra stress I’ve been experiencing though, I’ve been waking up in the middle of the night. Instead of dozing right off like I usually do, I try to solve all of my problems and all of the world’s problems while lying on my pillow. After a few days of this I realized something had to change so I’m trying two things. My first sleep strategy is choosing an episode of Get Sleepy and queuing it up so all I have to do is hit “play” if I wake up. That helps! If it doesn’t I put in my Loops and count backwards by three from 300.
8. Consider therapy for better mental health.
I haven’t seen a therapist in the last few years and it might be time for a tune up. There are so many amazing forms of therapy and complementary treatment for better mental health now. For me though, I’m thinking about talk therapy. Never hesitate to reach out for help assessing your mental health and improving it. If your arm was broken, you’d go to the doctor so seeking help for better health makes sense.
9. Bringing back regular stupid mental health walks.
Remember back in 2020 when all we could do was walk? People were posting pictures from their “stupid mental health walks” and actually loving them. Did John Green start this? Walking was my way through the pandemic. I still walk a lot but often indoors while working. Now that it’s warming up I’ll be outside again walking. I won’t listen to podcasts or audiobooks or try to make this time productive. Sometimes I’ll chat with a friend while I walk but mostly I’m looking forward to quiet walks listening only to the sounds around me and the voice within me.
All of these suggestions for better mental health can lead to more creative flow (which is really important for my work), more patience (essential for good relationships) and better overall health. It’s no secret that the mind-body connection is real. If what you really need is a regular, deep clean spring cleaning, try some of these 10 spring tidying hacks. Even cleaning up a small space is great for better mental health. I’ll come back with an update on how these ideas are working for me and I’d love to hear what’s working to better your mental health.