Spring Clean Yourself: How to Remove Mental & Emotional Toxins

Spring cleaning is upon us, when we eagerly clear our houses of clutter and dirt. It feels refreshing and free. We rediscover a love for our living space and embrace wanting to spend more time there.

What if we expanded this tradition to a mental and emotional spring cleaning? Think about the things in your life that are toxic to your mental and emotional wellbeing. What would it feel like to either clean up or remove these stresses from your world?

Picture your life as a pie with each slice representing:

• Physical health
• Mental health
• Financial health
• Relationships
• Religion/spirituality
• Leisure time

Each of these areas of your life needs to be nurtured regularly for you to feel balanced and well. Unfortunately, if there is one toxic area in your life, it will leak into the other pieces of the pie and have a negative impact on your wellbeing. 

With that said, it is crucial that we find resolution to the toxic areas in order to be the healthiest version of ourselves.

It sounds simple, but there are many reasons that people remain in toxic situations. Being overwhelmed and lacking motivation are common roadblocks. Change takes a lot of energy, but so does staying in a toxic situation. Try to break the change into small steps rather than thinking about taking on all the change at once.

For example, say you haven’t been feeling well physically for a while. You know you need to change your diet and exercise routine and could benefit from a physical exam and bloodwork.  You may have a long way to go to get back to the physical state you want to be in, but each week, you can set small goals to work in that direction. This week, you may commit to walking daily and set an appointment with your physician. With every action, you likely will feel some relief and a sense of accomplishment, which naturally builds motivation. Continue to build on that each week, one step at a time.

Toxic relationships are another challenge to resolve. When you love someone, but you know they are toxic, the solution can feel complicated. It is important to evaluate if you can improve the relationship (this takes both people willing to work toward change) or need to put up boundaries to protect your health. The degree of boundaries will need to be determined by the type of relationship and level of toxicity. 

Keep in mind that putting up boundaries or removing someone from your life does not necessarily mean you do not love them, it simply means you love yourself enough to protect your wellbeing.

Cleaning up and removing toxic people, places, and things from your life will feel freeing. You will rediscover the best version of yourself and will be more available to nurture and enjoy the other areas of your life again. Like pulling weeds from your garden, you will make room for beautiful flowers to grow!

Kristin Woodling, a licensed mental health counselor and certified marriage and family therapist, owns Pamper Your Mind, LLC in Satellite Beach. She is devoted to providing a confidential and elite therapeutic experience to professional women seeking healing, clarity, and balanced lifestyle for optimal health.

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