How to Spring Clean Your Mental Health in 6 Steps

Written by Katie Sarah Rose from okkate

From suffering from anxiety for a while now, I wanted to explain my battle with mental health, to hopefully help others with theirs. So, in the spirit of spring, this blog post will take you through my tips to “spring clean your mind” to help stabilize your mental health. Let’s get back to our happy and healthy selves.

1. Clear Your Surroundings

A cluttered environment makes for a cluttered mind. It’s best before you start looking into your mental health, to first make the world around you such as your home, workspace and perhaps your car, tidy and organized. By doing this, when it comes to tackling the deeper, darker side of your mind, you won’t feel as stressed about other little things like a messy bed or desk full of work papers. That way you can really focus on conquering your anxiety or depression without distractions.

2. Donate Old Clothes

Often simple tasks like choosing what to wear, making time to do your makeup and so on, can feel like daunting tasks when you’re living with anxiety. Make sure to make each step in your daily life as simple and stress-free as possible. If you’re constantly looking into a wardrobe of clothes and can’t find anything to wear, spend some time to clear out your closet. Only keep clothes that you actually wear, not those that you keep telling yourself you will but never do. By doing this your choice will become easier and it can make room to buy more clothes, which can be a source of therapy for some mental health sufferers.

Make sure all of the clothes you’re going to throw out are being rehomed with a good source. Don’t just put them in the bin but donate them to charity or pass them through to younger siblings or family members. In a world where recycling is such an issue, you can contribute to reducing waste in these simple ways that will also make you feel good about yourself too. That means tackling your mental health in this way will bring double benefits!

3. Switch Your Clothing Storage

Another point is to look into how you store your clothes. If you’re like me and have a chest of drawers consisting of one draw for tops, one for trousers and so on, you may find it’s not the easiest way to see what you’re storing. I often wear only the clothes at the top of my drawers and those at the bottom often go to waste. Then, after a few weeks, I wonder why I keep wearing the same stuff yet seem to have no space to store it all. (My drawers are often hard to close and overflowing.) Invest in a wardrobe or clothing rack. You don’t have to spend a lot, here is a suggestion from my favorite shop ever, IKEA.

4. Buy Flowers On A Bi-Weekly Basis

Spring is all about the rebirth of nature. Flowers begin to grow again, trees get their leaves back and lambs are born. Brighten up your room with a beautiful bunch of flowers from your local supermarket. That way you won’t be breaking the bank but will still be seeing the benefits. Flowers are known to be great for your mental health and with so many colors and shapes to choose from, you can make it into a fun bi-weekly ritual to pick different styles or color themes each time.

“Brighter colors are generally more relaxing, while bold saturated colors will energize you. A bunch with colors that fall near each other on the color wheel will also be more calming; with the opposite effect ensuing if the colors are opposite each other.” “Also, curvy shapes have generally been shown to be relaxing.” – Huffington Post

5. Get Jotting In A Journal

Often people who live with anxiety or depression may find that a lot of their negative thoughts arise from being disorganized and feeling rushed or as though they’ve got no time. That’s often how I felt and still do feel at times. Of course, these emotions don’t always go away but in order to help them, use a journal to organize your daily to-do’s, thoughts and pretty much anything.

Here are some great journals that are both affordable and look very aesthetically pleasing. Take a look below:

6. Be True To Your Feelings

I have briefly mentioned above the kinds of things you can write in your journal but one of the main things, especially if keep your journal private, is that whatever you write should be true to your feeling. That way you can voice your emotions, getting it off your chest without feeling the pressure of telling someone directly.

However, if you’re comfortable with talking to people, perhaps a close friend or family member, those who have, have found it really useful and a big relief.

“Recently, a young adult therapy client discovered when she “told the truth” to her parents she not only felt relieved but it also improved her relationships with them.” – ShareCare

I have done all of the above and found that it’s helped give me peace of mind and stop my stress from building up. Doing these steps on a regular basis can help get you into a happy, healthy routine different from your current routine that’s perhaps crippled by any mental health issues.

Katie Sarah Rose, ok Kate

Hi, I’m Kate, a Digital Marketer by day and lifestyle blogger by night for ok Kate. I write articles about beauty, fashion, food, and travel along with posts about mental health. You can find me on Instagram posting candid selfies or on Twitter retweeting cat videos. The choice is yours – choose wisely!