SPRING CLEAN YOUR LIFE

Spring is such a beautiful time of year. For those of us who don’t live in Florida (the state without seasons), the arrival of Spring means you’ve survived another winter and new life is blooming everywhere you look. It’s a season dedicated to rejuvenation and many of us will have already started thinking about a big spring clean! But what if we thought past the window cleaners and took this idea further. What if we decided to spring clean our minds?

I always like to use this season to assess my goals and consider what parts of my life are and are not serving me. So, while you’re planning your big closet clean out and looking at new storage ideas, why not take some time to spruce up other areas of your life? Using this time to re-set your attitude and get back in touch with your goals will reawaken a sense of purpose. Here are some things I am doing to clean up my world this spring, both inside and out.

1. Reevaluate your Goals

Are you sticking with something out of stubbornness rather than actual desire? Perhaps you’ve been training for a half marathon even though you realized months ago that you actually hate running? Well this is your reminder that nobody can force you to do anything you don’t actually want to do. So what if you made a New Year’s resolution to do it? If you hate it, if it’s causing you stress or even worse GUILT, then hang up your sneakers. You have enough to think about in life, you don’t need to do anything that isn’t serving your bigger purpose.

On the other hand, maybe you’ve lost sight of a goal you really wanted to keep. Don’t let difficult goals sit in the back of your mind. Create a checklist of things you want to achieve and maybe even set a date you want to have the task completed by. Having everything listed out allows you to get organized and set a plan to make it happen.

2. Clean up your Relationships

This is a big one. I even debated breaking it down into different sections but I’m going to try to fit it all into one.

All relationships (romantic and otherwise) have their ups and down, but generally they should energize you! If you always feel drained after seeing a certain friend, family member or partner then I’m sorry to say it, but this person is not somebody you need in your life. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve known them or how much you’ve been through together in the past. If they make you feel bad about yourself or try to bring you down, don’t waste your time. Life is too short for toxic energy.

Alternatively, if the relationship just needs some TLC try to figure out what you can do to get it back on track. Relationships require work from both parties and maybe you haven’t been doing your share recently. Use this process to step it up, put in the effort and get back to where you were.

Choosing who you surround yourself with is one of the most important choices you can make. “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with” is a well-known theory from Jim Rhon which explains that you should think about the people you spend your time with in the same way you think about what you eat and how you’re exercising. Attitudes and habits are contagious so you should examine who you are spending most of your time with. If you are being bombarded with negativity, greed or hopelessness, it may be time to consider the perks of that particular relationship. Be honest with yourself about what you want in life – professionally, personally, romantically – and look at the people around you to see if they’re helping or hindering you.

3. Focus on your Fitness

Winter months are often less active than the rest of the year so January 1st isn’t always the best time to set your fitness goals. Whether you have taken a hiatus or just looking for a revamp, Spring is the perfect time to set new intentions for your fitness routine.

If you haven’t even thought about working out since your last New Year’s resolution, maybe it’s time to look at why rather than how. Why can’t you ever stick with your plan to get in shape? Why does even the idea of going to the gym make you feel worse about yourself? Go easy on yourself, working out at a gym can be intimidating for anyone. Try a fitness class or connecting with an exercise buddy. Trying something new can be exciting and motivating and having someone to keep you accountable is always helpful.

On the other hand, if you are someone who never misses a work out maybe it’s time to change your exercise routine. There is always room for improvement and even those of us who make it to the gym every morning can hit a plateau. By implementing a new program or trying a new class this Spring, you can challenge yourself in new ways and experience a renewed zest for fitness.

4. Clear your Conscious

If you are feeling a sense of guilt, whether big or small, it can be extremely sabotaging to your everyday life. Guilt weighs on our conscious in such a strong way and can take over all of our thoughts as you are unconsciously worrying about the act in question.

Maybe you haven’t replied to a request you don’t want to agree to or maybe you know you’ve hurt a friend but you haven’t wanted to confront the situation, addressing your guilt is key to your health and well-being. Even if all you need to do is give a simple apology, taking action to relieve yourself of a heavy conscious will allow you to let go and move on.

5. Revamp your Self Care Routine

It seems like recently the term self-care has been tossed around a LOT. I’ve seen people on my feed referring to their self-care as anything from a trip to target to a massive carb loaded, grease covered meal. I’ve got news for you: just because it makes you feel good for a minute does NOT entitle it to be considered “self-care”. Eating a quarter pounder from Mcdonalds alongside a Wendy’s milkshake and Burger King fries might be super exciting and fun but I PROMISE you, this is not in anyway caring for yourself.

As a society, we’ve developed the habit of labelling any indulgence as self-care and because of this, you may have lost sight of what really works when you have a genuine need to look after yourself and feel better. So, next time you’re participating in self-care Sunday, just make sure the activity is actually fuelling your soul.

6. Get a New System for Dealing with Negative Thoughts

The sun is finally shining which means the winter blues are behind us and only positive thoughts will enter our heads for the next 8 moths.

…. right.

It’s natural and healthy to experience a range of feelings, including damaging ones, throughout the year so instead of living in a fanciful world where you never have a bad day, why not try a new way to deal with your negative thoughts. Here are a few techniques I have used to dig myself out of the “Debbie Downer” spiral I sometimes find myself in:

Write about what’s bothering you and then immediately write a list of everything you are grateful for
Ask yourself what you’d tell a friend who was expressing the same feelings
Repeat a Positive Affirmation that opposes the negative thoughts you’re experiencing

7. Check Out of Social Media

Social media plays a huge role in our daily lives, I get that. Personally, I’m a huge fan of social media and have used it regularly for years. That being said, taking a hiatus from social media every once and a while can massively improve your mental health, mindfulness and personal connections.

Taking a break from Social Media allows us to take stock of our own lives and acknowledge how we are feeling in the present moment. When we are scrolling through Instagram, we are focusing on others more than ourselves; we are depending on others for validation and happiness when in fact, studies have shown that individuals who spend significant amount of time on social media report increased anxiety, lower self-esteem and are at a higher risk of developing depression.

By taking a Social Media detox, you’ll notice less of what others are showing off and find connections and validation in other, more genuine ways but if the idea of completely signing out is too much to consider today, there are smaller steps you can take to make time spent on social media more positive. Try following accounts that align with your values and goals and while you’re at it, go ahead and unfollow the accounts that spark feelings of envy, anxiety or comparison. The most important thing to remember while we are scrolling through the endless content available online is that the posts we are looking at have been carefully chosen, edited and captioned to portray whatever persona the ‘poster’ wants us to see - the curated life depicted on social media is often far from reality.

8. Stop Throwing Away Money

I can’t be the only one who forgets to cancel paid subscriptions/memberships etc. I’ve forgotten to cancel my Amazon Hayu app for the third month in a row now. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Hayu, it’s what expats use to watch American TV overseas the day after it is released in America. It was a life saver while I was in England but I’m back in Florida now and I don’t even think the app works here! So, part of my spring clean this week will be cancelling this subscription.

Even if you can’t think of anything you are paying for that you don’t use, I recommend going through your direct debits and making sure. Part of spring cleaning is being thorough after all!

9. Unsubscribe!

This is one of things that takes time but boy is it worth it. I don’t know when I started getting emails for a cheese shop in Germany, but I do. And every time a new email came in from Kasengenuss Und Mehr, my blood would boil. I would quickly delete it and remember to unsubscribe next time but then next time would come at an inconvenient time and the cycle would continue.

I promise you, taking the time to unsubscribe from all of those emails you never read will transform your inbox. It will be easier to spot important emails because they won’t be surrounded by dozens of marketing ploys.

10. Clean Up your Phone

Chances are your phone could use a quick wipe down with a disinfectant but that’s not what I mean.

Have you ever needed to get to an app quickly but couldn’t find it because of the hundreds of other apps on the multiple screens of your phone? It can be the most maddening thing! And chances are, you don’t actually use all of the nutrition diaries, financial planners, meditation programs and period trackers. I’m currently looking at the fourth screen of my iPhone and I can see a reward app for a restaurant in Bristol I won’t be visiting anytime soon, three photo editors and an app for a camera I lost months ago. Meanwhile, I haven’t been able to take a photo all week because my storage is full. Why do we do this?! Delete an app. Right now. Just do it and notice how good it feels. I promise you’ll be able to re-download it and chances are, your account will still be active. So, clean it up and prevent those agitating minutes of searching in the future.

While you’re on a deleting spree, go ahead and hit up your contacts list! I’ll do the practice of self-reflection again since that seemed to work above. I’m going through my contacts list and in the A’s alone I have 2 people I worked with…over 3 years ago, the number for the apple store in Bristol, and someone named “Adam-Bunker”. Ladies and gentlemen, I don’t have any desire to ever speak to those two ex-colleagues again, I can’t see any reason why I would ever need to call the Apple store in another country and well, Bunker is a student night club I haven’t visited in four years so I that’s all I need to say about that one. Delete! Delete! Delete! What a glorious concept!

11. Turn Off Notifications

I did this one a few months ago and it has really helped me gain some independence from my phone. I used to open Facebook anytime I saw that little red notification on the corner of the icon even though I knew damn well it was just going to tell me that somebody commented on a photo I liked three months ago or even worse, it was someone’s birthday who I haven’t spoken to in years. It didn’t matter that I knew that none of my friends use Facebook as a way to communicate anymore – if I saw that red dot, I needed to open the app. Same went for Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest…the list goes on! I mean has anyone EVER received a useful notification from Pinterest?! I don’t really care if Sarah recently pinned a new slow cooker recipe to her Superbowl Party themed board. Yet I was a notification prisoner and all of the self-awareness in the world couldn’t help me escape. That is, until I just turned them off. It sounds insane but by making that small change, I immediately felt like I was in complete control of my phone usage rather than just mindlessly opening whatever app was screaming out to me for attention.

I loved this new feeling of empowerment so much, I took it one step further. I turned off all push notifications, including texts, WhatsApps, news alerts…the lot! The only push notification I still allow myself is missed calls. Now I only look at my phone on my terms which sounds a little dramatic, I know but take a second to think about how often you pick your phone up after it lights up with a useless notification only to then spend several minutes mindlessly scrolling from one app to the next.

I hope you found at least a couple of these ideas useful. As I mentioned earlier, sometimes even just a small step can do wonders for your well-being!