7 Ways to Spring Clean Your Life

We all have at least one friend who makes us feel bad about ourselves, the master of the back-handed compliment. Why do we keep her around? Life spring cleaning step one: Rather than waste another minute with a frenemy, surround yourself with a group of supportive, kind-hearted friends.

Before you can tackle any big task, it’s time to feel rested and ready to take on the world. Schedule a doctor’s appointment for an annual physical. Be sure you’re getting all of the sleep you need. Exercise regularly. These are all of the physical ways to spring clean your life.

Sweetie, it’s time to let go of the past and start living in the now! Let go of your anger over your ex-boyfriend, that mistake you made last year, the issues you have with your mother. Letting go of negative emotions you have from years ago, or even just weeks ago, is a major drain on your sunny outlook and your energy for living today. This is also a good time to apologize for the things you’ve been carrying guilt for… it can feel so good to apologize and just move forward!

Let’s see: laptop, smart phone, TV, e-reader, video game, iPod… that’s a lot of technology! If you’re feeling a little overloaded, limit your use of technology. Will the world come to a grinding halt if you shut off your cell phone for two hours to go for a walk, or to take a bubble bath? Do you really need to know what every one of your 300 friends is doing on Facebook? Set a limit and stick to it… this is a marvelous way to spring clean your life!

There are so many things in our lives that are just out of our hands. The weather, the stock market, the price of gas. Rather than spend a lot of time worrying about the things you can’t control, try your best to let them go. Also, if you tend to worry a lot about things in the distant future, try to let those go for now, too. So many things can happen between now and then, it’s impossible to plan for, and worry about, every contingency. I’m not suggesting that we all wander around, irresponsible, but we all need to know we can’t waste our lives with too much worry.

I have a friend who is constantly complaining about everything. Every Facebook message is a complaint, every conversation begins with a tale of woe… it’s so hard to be around her sometimes! If you find yourself being a Negative Nellie more often than not, it’s time for a little attitude adjustment and spring cleaning! First, get rid of all of the friends who never have anything nice to say, or at least back-burner them. Then stop being that downer yourself! Be grateful for what you have, and if nothing else, learn to appreciate that some days are rainy, and that yes, you do have to get up and go to school.

It’s hard to keeping up with your best friend from third grade and the girl your mom used to car-pool with and your third cousin in France… you can spend hours on Facebook just looking at their status updates and photos and links… yikes! It’s time to de-clutter, virtually. Don’t feel bad for deleting people you don’t actually talk to in real life, and limit yourself to just one hour per day to keep up with the people you decide to keep. It’s oddly liberating to log in to Facebook and NOT see 53 updates, all screaming for attention.

Don’t’ let these things go another minute! Take some time to work them all out, and see how much better you feel! Aside from the things on my little list, how do you go about spring cleaning your life? Which of these things do you find the hardest? Please share!

Top Photo Credit: Lei H.