Do You Ever Take The Time To 'Spring Clean' Yourself?
March 11, 2014
Post by Blog Manager Robbi Hess
Rumor has it that spring will soon be arriving in Western New York. Honestly, I will not believe it until I feel it. Right now my yard is still covered in close to a foot of snow even with the "warm weather" we've been having -- I guess that 33 degrees is warmer than 6 degrees, but it's all relative.
When I think of spring cleaning I think of the hours we spent, as children, with my parents on a whole-house overhaul. We cleaned from the attic to the cellar and every room in between. Once that was done and the winter curtains gave way to the summer curtains we were recruited to help clean up the ravages of winter from the back yard.
These days I am focusing on spring cleaning myself -- I will get to the house eventually, I promise. What does self-spring-cleaning mean? Here are a few of my thoughts:
- What friends do you have in your life that are simply taking more energy from you than giving anything back to you? You may need to move away from energy zappers.
- What projects are you procrastinating about? Did you know it takes more mental energy to not do a project than to just do it? It's true. If the project is daunting though, break it into bite sized pieces and tackle it 15 minutes at a time. Anyone can do any task, however unpleasant, for 15 minutes at a time.
- What long held beliefs do you need to get rid of so that you can spring forward? "If I lose XYZ number of pounds I'll be happier," "If only I had a new job everything would be great." Those thoughts are self defeating, especially if you're not going to make progress toward change. Rather than saying you need to lose XYZ pounds, maybe you can say, "I want to get more daily exercise so I will walk the dog for 30 minutes on my lunch and I will have a healthy breakfast rather than a donut." That is an actionable goal that is easily measured for success.
- Take time to do a physical spring cleaning of your closet. If you're like me, you hang onto clothes that you either wore in your "skinny" years or your "fat" years. If you can't remember when you last wore them, chances are you will never wear them again. They could be a constant reminder of your "failures." Clean 'em out.
- Just as you may need to walk away from certain friends and family that you see on a regular basis, so too may you need to clear out the clutter on your social media platforms. Do you have social media "friends" who are always bringing the drama or who vague-book items (you know ... a post like, "if I have to deal with this type of thing again I will jump off a bridge") The status doesn't say what they are dealing with because they are being intentionally vague so people will jump in and say "OMG are you all right?" Drama is for the theater.
What can you do to spring clean your life? I'd love to hear about it.
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