Mental Health: Spring-Clean Your Way to Better Mental Health
After a long and bitterly cold winter, it’s finally time to open our windows and welcome the sunshine and fresh air. Spring brings a sense of renewal, offering a fresh start as trees blossom and grass greens and grows, carrying with it hope and anticipation. During this season, many people engage in the ritual known as “spring-cleaning.”
For some, spring-cleaning might simply mean refreshing your space with dusting and letting in that fresh air and cool breeze. For others, it involves decluttering and removing items that no longer serve a purpose. When April arrives and bulk trash collection day comes to my neighborhood, curbsides inevitably overflow with discarded toys, furniture, and electronics. Clothing donation bins become piled high with clothes that are in good condition but haven’t been worn in quite a while.
Spring reminds us of transition and transformation, and this act of spring cleaning does wonders for your mental health. Specifically, a clean space brings improved mood, reduced stress, and better focus. Here’s why:
Cleaning and organizing your space will give you a sense of productivity and accomplishment. Maybe you remember being a kid and spending all day cleaning and organizing your room and perhaps even rearranging your furniture if you were feeling particularly ambitious. Cleaning and organizing that space left you feeling proud of yourself, and I’ll bet your room became your personal sanctuary as you enjoyed the sense of accomplishment and pride that you felt.
This sentiment carries over into adulthood, as we clean and organize spaces throughout our home to maintain the sense of peace and tranquility that comes with a space being our “sanctuary.” Having a peaceful space becomes especially important as we go through our busy days that somehow only seem to get busier. Imagine having an organized, intentional, and aesthetically pleasing place to call home after a long day, and the comfort that this brings you. A clean and organized space helps to calm your mind and your central nervous system, which may have been overactive for most of your day.
And while many of you likely know that a cluttered or disorganized space can result in decreased focus because the environment is too stimulating and you can’t easily find what you need when you need it, many are surprised to learn that there is a relationship between home clutter and depression, and this relationship seems to be reciprocal. To clean and organize your space, you must get moving. Moving our bodies and maintaining a sense of productivity helps significantly to ward off depression, especially for those more prone to the disorder.
Additionally, having a cluttered space can cause someone to feel as though their home lacks peace and tranquility and instead promotes a sense of chaos and lack of control, increasing a likelihood for depressive symptoms.
If you’re not sure where to start with your spring-cleaning or the task feels overwhelming, I encourage you to begin with small, manageable steps. Too many of us put off completing a task because it seems too daunting. But remember, mountain climbers conquer those peaks one step at a time. Don’t focus on your mountain (your larger goal of cleaning and decluttering your entire space) but rather concentrate on your next step, something small you can do right now that moves you toward having a cleaner home.
If you’re feeling more ambitious, you can start with a larger task that will make the most visible difference in your home, which will help motivate you to complete your spring-cleaning and maintain an organized space. You’ll immediately experience the sense of accomplishment and peace from this transformation.
Lastly, create a plan for your spring-cleaning. This can include which spaces you want to tackle, how you’ll decide what to keep versus what to let go of, and when you’d like to complete the task based on the time you have available.
Wishing you much peace and joy in your clean and organized space this spring!