Spring has sprung! The days are getting longer, the plants are getting greener, and you just want to throw open your windows and allow fresh air into your home to clear out those winter cobwebs. It’s a well-accepted tradition that spring is the time for renewal and fresh chances. The cycle of life has begun anew. So, as we all shake off the dust and winter pall that has built up over the past three months, maybe it’s time to consider doing the same thing for your mental health.
Here at Spirit Peak Organics, we understand that getting through those dark and dreary winter months can be a slog. The days are short, it’s cold, and everything is hibernating. In addition, science shows that Seasonal Affective Disorder can really take a toll on your mental health. Polls show that more than 16 million Americans suffer from it every year. So while you’re scouring the house with scrubber pads and bleach, here are some simple ideas to help declutter your mind while you throw out those old outfits at the back of your closet. (Or don’t throw out those clothes, everything old is new again, right?)
Our minds are constantly running, making lists and tallies of the things we need to do and the tasks we haven’t completed yet. The problem is the lists never end, do they? Trying to grab onto our thoughts and sanity can feel like trying to hold onto a handful of water as it flows between our fingers. So we’ve compiled a list of things that you can do to aid in some mental spring cleaning this year.
Somewhere along the line, the act of getting your thoughts down on paper fell by the proverbial wayside. We dropped the conscious act of chronicling our thoughts and actions in favor of trying to keep track of everything mentally. However, there’s a really positive benefit to be seen by journaling, whatever that may mean to you. Journaling doesn’t have to be 15 minutes of contemplating your day or feelings. Instead, it can be the simplicity of making to-do lists and tracking the actions that must be done throughout the day. The rise of bullet journaling has combined not just the functionality of creating lists but also a stimulating way to order the chaos. Color coding or indexing your tasks is a great way to prioritize what needs to get done, what would be nice to get done, and what you’re simply heaping on yourself to maybe set unrealistic expectations.
You can’t carry it all. It’s just that simple. Allow yourself to put something down. Is that thing doom scrolling on Twitter as the 24-hour news cycle slowly crushes your sanity? Is that thing incessantly googling what can and can’t be recycled because you’re trying to be the best ally you can to every advocate issue? Is the thing you need to stop doing fretting about every carb you put in your body? Be the Marie Kondo of your own mind, proverbially touch all the actions you pack into your day and ask yourself, “Does this bring me joy, or is this something I just feel like I should do? Is this adding value to my life, or am I just addicted to making myself miserable with this thing?” If it doesn’t spark the joy that Marie Kondo talks about, then allow yourself to thank it for its role in your life up to this point and leave it behind. You are the captain of your own ship, and Twitter is not the boss of you.
Are you even that good at multi-tasking, or have you just bought into the fiction that we should always be doing three things at once? Time and time again, when experts look at our propensity to multi-task, we are actually taking longer to get the same amount of work done. We’re also doing each task with less precision than we would be if we focused, and we’re quicker to burn ourselves out. There’s a myth we buy into regarding multi-tasking, and that’s that if we “can” do two or three things at once, this will reduce the time we take to do all three. Instead, our reality shows us that it usually takes us longer because we must go back and fix the mistakes we made while not focusing on the task at hand.
Remove some of the obstacles you put in your own way. Everything that needs to get done will get done, but it doesn’t need to all get done this instant. We promise.
Your brain needs sleep, food, and water. Remember these fundamentals. You can’t declutter your brain if you’re starving it, dehydrating it, or depriving it of sleep. You don’t need to earn sustenance and sleep. Without it, you are putting yourself further and further into deficit.
Did you know that your brain uses 20% of your daily energy? So even if you’re in a calorie deficit for weight loss, there’s a minimum amount of calories you need to consume to protect your body from consuming muscle for energy and keep your mind functioning optimally.
Remember, being a human being is tough. While it’s true that what you put off until tomorrow has now become today, the mental dressing down you gave yourself for needing to be human isn’t helping anything either. You are allowed to worry about things, and you are allowed to drop the ball sometimes. Give yourself the space to be the unique and talented human being you are, even when you don’t feel like either of those things.
We know we’re not always good at these things either. So find a friend, go for coffee and get those worries off your chest. Feel your feelings, but don’t let them prevent you from moving forward.
Many things are easier said than done sometimes. Getting an organizational plan into place feels like it takes more time than you have. Maybe you don’t feel capable of mentally putting down your negative addiction. Maybe you don’t know how to find the time to do all the basics yet, and you know what, that’s perfectly alright. These are just steps to decluttering your mind the way you would your closet or your apartment. Take them at the pace you can.
In the meantime, a great way to help get some of the balance you seek on the daily is by finding the right CBD product. Your homeostasis awaits and is just a click away. Find out more about how CBD could benefit you here!
