Do Your Negative Thoughts Need Some Spring Cleaning?

The Idea Of Spring Cleaning

The idea of “spring cleaning” is often associated with the process of cleaning your physical surroundings, but it can be used for so much more. Do you find yourself holding onto negative and intrusive thoughts that followed you from the winter months? Is your anxiety not easing even though the seasons around you seem to be changing for the better? Applying the idea of spring cleaning to your mind and thoughts can allow you to open up your mind to a new and healthier perspective, and focusing on your mental health during the change of seasons may allow you to move towards a new season with a new outlook.

Are You Hoarding Negative Thoughts?

Whether we like it or not, seasons can affect the way our brain works. In the colder months, it’s easy to feel like the world is closing in on you when there is ice covering the ground and snow falling every other day. Vitamin D levels take a plunge due to the lack of sunlight and the concept of a “couch potato” becomes more relatable by the minute. When we finally emerge from these winter months, it may be difficult for some individuals to jump back into feeling like they were before the frost took over. This can cause some lingering thoughts from a seasonal depression episode to wiggle their way into what could be a time of growth and rejuvenation. For your healing journey, it is important to recognize these persisting anxieties and intrusive thoughts as old habits; they helped you survive through the frigid winter and now it’s time to spring into healthier habits. When we look at these as habits, it becomes easier to identify the patterns in which they show up in our lives and how we are most affected by them.

How To Focus on Your Mental Health this Spring

The practice of spring cleaning can help get move towards a more positive and productive attitude. When you create a toolbox for your mental health, you are creating a space where you allow yourself not only time to feel and express your emotions, but also a way to regulate whatever reactions these emotions pull out from you. A mental health toolbox is a way to help keep your mind, body, and soul feeling refreshed through even the smallest actions. Below are 3 various tools that you can use this spring to help keep your morale high and the anxieties low:

Idea 1:

Clean Environment, Clean Thoughts: This doesn’t mean that you have to clean your entire apartment overnight, but rather thinking of where you spend your time and energy and clearing out anything that you feel may be holding you back or causing you stress. Whether it’s creating a routine to clean your desk every morning before work or making your bed in the morning, these changes to your environment can positively impact your mood. Even a small habit and routine can lead to monumental changes in how you feel throughout the day.

Idea 2:

It’s Time To Take A Walk: Since the frost is slowly receding, now is the perfect time to make small 15-20 minute walks a daily routine. Whether it’s a walk down the street or a nature hike, spending time outside is proven to raise your Vitamin D levels. It’s more difficult to take a stroll in the winter, so taking advantage of the new and improved outdoor environment will add a new level of exercise and positivity to your day.

Idea 3:

Change Isn’t Always Bad: Spring cleaning can be connected to the idea that you have to completely remove the old to let in the new. While it’s not recommended that you change your entire space or routine to engage with this idea, sometimes making a small change to your environment or routine will add more nuance and positivity to your thoughts. Small changes here and there allow your brain a subtle stimulation that it would have not received normally and do make a large difference.

Spring Cleaning Can Lead To A Healthier You

If the idea of spring cleaning sounds like an exciting way to guide you through lingering anxieties and intrusive thoughts, we want to help you find the best method of approaching your new lifestyle. At Mind, Body, Soul Therapy, we want to help you find the root of your anxieties so you can explore new and healthier habits that will fortify your mental health toolbox and allow you some breathing room this spring.