A mental declutter might not be the first thing you think of when it comes to spring cleaning. While washing the windows might be good for your mental health, these suggestions will help you clean and clear your mind.
A mental declutter is perfect for this time of year no matter what season you are in. Check in to see if you are ready to clear your mind or for a mental declutter. I’m not a medical professional but these questions help me understand where I might need a little work and a lot of relief. Ask questions like:
- How am I sleeping?
- How do I feel?
- What do I need right now?
- Am I more reactive than usual?
- Am I responding to stress in a healthy way?
- Is stress negatively affecting my health, work and/or relationships?
Mental Declutter: 8 Gentle Ways to Spring Clean Your Mind
Start with one of these recommendations to make a little space, to reset and clear your mind. Then you’ll have more clarity about what you need next.
1. Streamline your wardrobe if you want a mental declutter.
Dressing with less relieves unnecessary stress and makes me so uninterested in shopping for new items (especially ones I don’t need) on a seasonal or emotional basis. I just made my capsule wardrobe list for spring and I’ll be sharing it during the Closet Declutter Hour! Join me if you want to get rid of things you never wear and zero in on those workhorse pieces (the ones you wear most of the time). A clean closet and tiny wardrobe relieves your mind of stress, overwhelm and decision fatigue.
2. Get off your phone.
Sometimes, it feels like it call comes down to this. A mental declutter requires space and if you fill all of that space with scrolling, breaking news and notifications, your mind can never take a break and reset. I recommend removing email and social media from your phone or Bricking your phone when you find yourself checking in too much.
Even better, put some actual space between you and your phone. There are lots of tips and tricks to stay off your phone but I really believe this is the real secret to reducing screen time. If that doesn’t work, maybe this article can help: Are You Daydreaming about a Flip Phone Too?
3. Solve the little problem before the big one.
If you are struggling to solve a big problem or an ongoing issue in your life, that probably causes a lot of stress and mental clutter. Instead of pushing through and fighting this mental clutter, clear your mind by solving a little problem. This will serve as mental decluttering because you will remind yourself that you can make changes.
One little problem I’ve been working on is the way I wait until the last possible moment to leave my house for meetings or appointments. The solution is to show up 10 minutes early for everything. It’s something small, but it matters.
4. Remember that less news = better mental health.
I am 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 a 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. If you want to reconcile how to be informed and protect your peace, this will help. (IG)
5. 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 started playing tennis last year and have met some really nice people. I actually look forward to leaving my house on tennis days.
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 In her book she wrote, “Low stakes relationships can be high impact.” An article in The Atlantic called 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.”
6. Put new sleep strategies in place.
A mental declutter must 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. Sometimes though, I wake up in the middle of the night and try to solve all of my problems and all of the world’s problems while lying on my pillow. After a couple of days of this I realize something had to change. 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.
7. Support your mental declutter with therapy.
There are so many amazing forms of therapy and complementary treatment for better mental health now. 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 mental health makes sense.
8. Sometimes the truth depends upon a walk around the lake.
Remember back in 2020 when all we could do was take a 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.
Instead of multitasking your next walk, just walk. Set the podcasts and other phone thngs aside and see what happens. Even a short 10-minute quiet walk will clear your mind. I’m looking forward to more quiet walks listening only to the sounds around me and the voice within me. “Sometimes the truth depends upon a walk around the lake.” – Wallace Stevens.
All of these suggestions for better mental health can lead to more creative flow (which is really important work and problem solving), 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 to clear your mind is a regular, deep clean spring cleaning, try some of these 10 spring tidying hacks. Even cleaning up a small space is great for a mental declutter.
