Spring Cleaning Your Life
In this issue: everything you need for shedding the heaviness of schedules, relationships, spaces in your life AND a way to do this together
I hope spring is in the air in your neck of the woods. Here in Minnesota it is still snowing almost daily 🥶, but that is not stopping me from getting started on my spring cleaning.
This is NOT spring cleaning in the traditional sense. Sure, I could dust and wash curtains and deep clean cabinets, but that isn’t essential right now.
We are undergoing a transformation as a collective humanity where we are being called into greater alignment from WITHIN our individual selves and that requires a very different kind of spring cleaning.
Keep reading for HOW to spring clean your relationships, your schedule, and the spaces that you spend the most time in.
A quick note if you are wondering how you got here or if you are wondering where the family focus is. As a part of my own spring cleaning, I streamlined the two YOU Aligned Substack newsletters into one publication. You will find tips for your family life included. I did this because I needed more simplicity AND I believe when women live from a place of alignment, their family, friends, co-workers, and all the people in their circles benefit. This is a space for all women whether single, partnered, parenting, caring for elderly loved ones…whatever your circumstances.
SPACES
Spring cleaning the spaces you spend most of your time in might be about actual cleaning of floors, windows, shelves, etc. AND I am finding it is even more beneficial to spring clean in these three ways. And, if you have a family, make this a family activity or even a challenge because challenges make it more fun. Every family member gets a point for certain completed tasks or you could work together to go through the whole house and reward yourselves with a family fun night. Kids need fresh spaces too and partners often need some encouragement 😉
Declutter: I know, I know, that’s what everyone recommends, so hear me out. I am a pile person. I have piles of stuff I will “get to later”. The piles start to close in on my space AND my ability to flourish within that space. The piles need to go! Wherever your stuff accumulates and feels like it weighs you down when you see it, that needs to get sorted and thrown or put away.
Remove what no longer serves you. You need to get brutally honest with yourself about this task because what no longer serves you is weighing you down. It’s keeping you from achieving goals and dreams. It is setting the tone for procrastination and stagnation. Think big on this! What books, photos, decor, chair, plants, blankets, dishes…seriously, anything that you no longer appreciate or utilize, let it go! Give it away. Repurpose it. Throw it away.
Think outside the box and spring clean your virtual spaces too. Leave groups that you have outgrown or no longer need on Facebook. Get rid of email accounts you don’t check. Consciously choose which social media apps get space on your phone and whether you need alerts for all or any of them. Cancel subscriptions and memberships you no longer use. Unfriend and block with blessing, meaning thank that person in your mind for the time they were in your virtual life and let them go.
SCHEDULES
We are ALL struggling with schedules. I don’t care where you live and who you are or what changes you have made, everyone struggles with schedules on some level. Here are my top tips that work to slow you down and create more connection time in your life. Even if you think you don’t need to spring clean your schedule, I would recommend giving yourself a bit of a check-up on schedules as you may be surprised what these three practices reveal for you.
Ask yourself what you are ready to let go of. It might be a commitment you always say yes to because you once enjoyed it and now you don’t enjoy it as much anymore. It might be a commitment you can hand off or delegate. It might be something that simply doesn’t fit your schedule anymore. Let go of what no longer serves you…remember that from the SPACES section?
Ask yourself what you are doing full out to 150% that actually you could do at 75% because your 75% is actually most people’s 125%. I know, that’s a lot of math, and hopefully you get my point. If you are reading this, you most likely fit in well with the women I work with. The women I work with struggle with people pleasing and perfectionism because they have lived within an environment where toxic energy and demands created the belief the more they did and they better they did it, the happier others would stay for longer. For the women in my free community on Facebook (click here to join), they are pouring 150% effort into everything and spring cleaning means giving themselves permission to give 75% effort in some areas.
Start follow the one per season rule. My parents created this rule and it was so beneficial for me and our family because it allowed breathing room in our schedules for down time, friend time, family time, and so much more. Plus, it benefits everyone—especially kids—in focusing their energy on one thing at a time. If you are concerned your kids won’t be well-rounded, let that concern go. Kids are well-rounded when they choose what they are interested in and have space to focus on what they enjoy. Adults are the same way. The “One Per Season” rule is one sport per season and one activity of choice per season that is NOT sports related. For me growing up, that was cheerleading and piano. I highly encourage adults to weave this rule in as a principle for their own lives so it might be a club activity and service on a board for you. The bottom line is putting boundaries around free time so that you have space to breathe and enjoy yourself and actually cook from scratch every couple of days.
RELATIONSHIPS
I support women in safely navigating toxic relationships in their lives so that they don’t need to feel like the only answer is to completely cut off a parent, sibling, adult child, or coparent. This work begins from within. You will not be successful in safely navigating these toxic relationships if you don’t do your inner work. That inner work includes knowing who drains your energy and why they drain your energy. That inner work also includes examining who you give the most access to your time and energy and why.
This month’s Upleveled area is HUGE! This is one of the biggest uplevels I have ever offered because it is a full mini-course on how to spring clean your relationships so that you experience more mutual relationships that don’t drain your time and energy.
In the Upleveled area you will find a 3-part Relationship Reboot course that I created for a challenge I offered last year. It is a step-by-step guide to how to recognize which relationships drain you, what to do about it, and how to create boundaries that support bringing the healthier relationships closer and repositioning the less-than-healthy relationships further away from your time and energy. Click that Uplevel button to access the course now.
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