New month, new season! When spring comes to mind you often think of spring cleaning, we’re here to tell ya that this isn’t only for your homes. This season we encourage you to do some mental spring cleaning. We challenge you to identity and work to rid yourself of negative thoughts, ideas or anxieties that are no longer serving you! Let’s start March off with a clean mind and fresh perspective. We reached out to our favorite LCSW, Kylie Lahey, for her go-to strategies and tips to do just that!
Here's what she had to say:
We survived the commotion of the winter holidays and are settling into 2023… which means we can finally take space to evaluate the happenings of the past few months. Honestly, I’ve always been more of a March resolutions gal because I need a few months to adjust to writing “2023” before I can even comprehend making a big change.
When we consider adding something into our lives, we have to actively make room for the addition by letting go of something else! Yet no one says this swap will be easy, which is why I’ve included an exercise to guide you through the growing pains of making change.
Start by considering the eight domains of self care: emotional, environmental, financial, physical, professional, psychological, relational, spiritual. Does one of these categories jump out to you immediately as having room for improvement or automatically make you feel hesitant? This is where we will focus first 🙂
Exploring your chosen domain, make a two-column list of what in your life is working at the moment and what you think needs to change. Maybe you have a great crew of friends and you want to be more consistent in your intentionality with them. Or maybe you’ve been constantly comparing yourself to others and you want to refocus on your gratitude.
Once you finish reflecting, choose one of these ideas for change to break down further.
Reflect on one from each column and how you want to feel when you clean or add it back into your life. An example would be wanting to decrease flakiness and improve consistency in relationships.
Take a moment to notice how the idea of each change feels to you. What emotion label would you give those feelings? Where do you notice those feelings in your body? Does flakiness make you feel guilty? Does feeling guilty make your stomach ache? Does consistency make you feel confident? Does confidence make you release your shoulder tension?
On an exhale, exhale what you’re cleaning out. Notice the difficult emotions and sensations leaving your body.
On an inhale, inhale what you’re adding to your mind. Notice the emotions and sensations that are filling you up.
Repeat this for a minimum of five rounds, and you can do this with as many of the items on your list as you need, whenever and wherever the occasion arises! Remember - change and growth are required and guaranteed aspects of life. You are in control of how you respond to them.