Spring Clean Your Life!

Is it time for a good ol' spring cleaning?

WHAT IS A LIFE SPRING CLEANING?

A life spring cleaning is exactly that same as a house spring cleaning. You get in there and you deep clean everything. You get rid of things you don’t want, need or are broken. You feel great when you’re done.

SPRING CLEANING: RELATIONSHIPS

Make a list of the personal relationships you have. You can include or exclude family here if you like. Some are of the mentality that you can’t get rid of family so they shouldn’t be included, and others find great insight in including them.

• For two to four weeks you will keep a chart. If someone upsets you, hurts you, disrespects you, or treats you poorly, give them a negative mark on the chart. If they do something kind for you, you think of them fondly at random, they check in on you so on, give them a good mark.
• Use red and gold stars. Use happy faces or sad. Use whatever symbols you want.
• At the end of this, you are simply putting to paper the way this person or these people make you feel. And you are distancing yourself from the ones that make you feel bad. From there, you are re-investing in the ones that make you feel good.

SPRING CLEANING: CAREER

Does your work make you feel good? Not everyone works in a life changing job and that’s OK, but how does it make YOU feel?

• Keep a log daily for even just two weeks and you should know if you like job, and why you do or you don’t.
• Whenever you have a flux in your emotion (positive or negative) make a note of it in the log.
• Don’t just use symbols here, use notes (even quick ones) because it’s important that be aware of what you do and don’t like. You will find yourself more able to make the appropriate changes if you have notes to fall back on.
• Once you have determined your emotions with the log, you can decide if you need a change, or if you’re happy. You can figure out what new company, position, or path to take if you don’t want to remain the same, because you will know what you want and need.

SPRING CLEANING: HEALTH & WELLNESS

How often do you sit in silence? How often do you take deep breaths with your eyes closed? Are you going for a run or even a walk daily? What fuel are you putting into your body?

All of these things carry over into the rest of your life. You won’t feel your best if you aren’t treating yourself the best that you can.

• Take ten minutes a day for two weeks and note the thoughts that pop into your mind, then push them slowly out.
• The point of this is to relax. Answers come when we are quiet.
• Try keeping an exercise or food journal for a few weeks too. It is so much easier to change habits when you are aware of what they are!
• I am not saying get a full body makeover, I am suggesting that it is a good time to re-evaluate your health and wellness, to make sure it still working for you, and make changes as needed. Keeping the food and exercise logs/journals are simply a tool to help you along the way.

SPRING CLEANING: MONEY

Yeah, I know. This is a big one.

• Get ready to log again! Try an app for your Smartphone like the Mint app. You can set budgets and track spending on their free version and figure out exactly what expenses you can do without monthly.
• Did you know that by just packing lunch for work instead of going out you would be saving almost $1,000.00/year? That’s a vacation for the family! So get tracking and you will be sure to start saving.
• You may also pop back up to Career Cleaning. Are you due for a review or pay increase? Make a very detailed list of why (what tasks you have taken on, certifications you may have received since your last review, even volunteer work if you feel it has made you better at your job) and ask your boss if you can set sometime soon to chat about your future with the company. Tell him or her that you think you are doing pretty well but want to make sure you are on the same page.
• You could even consider it time to visit a financial planner. Why not? The worst that’s going to happen is that they will tell you exactly how to save for retirement.

SPRING CLEANING: PERSONAL GROWTH

What things did you try in the past that you didn’t stick with?

• Get rid (I mean to say sell or donate as much as possible) of the items you still have associated with those older hobbies.
• You don’t need old instruments, bowling balls, clown makeup or even books laying around cluttering up your house, and you don’t need the thoughts of those items cluttering up your mind. Move them out and you will be making room for the new things you want to try.
• This is a great time for that cooking class, or taking up boxing. After all, you can always try something new next year, but things like this ensure your personal growth and help make you a better, more well-rounded person.