Spring has sprung, and as the weather warms up, (like 78 degrees in Boston March 21!), it’s
finally time to open up the windows and shake off the winter. An excellent way to welcome the new season is to free yourself from old clutter that is taking up space in your house. Spring cleaning allows you to let go of pieces of the past that you are weighing you down and make a fresh start.
Cleaning out closets and desk drawers may not be your favorite activity, but start small and think of how good it will feel to tackle one little project at a time. To avoid feeling overwhelmed and quitting before you even get started, (we're all very experienced at having overwhelm override us!) use journal writing as a way to organize your thoughts so you can organize your space.
Spring Clearing Out With Journal Writing
1. First, take a walk around your home and do an informal evaluation. Open drawers and doors, rummage through boxes and piles and don’t forget to peek into forgotten spaces like garages, attics and sheds. Pay attention to how certain areas make you feel. Where are you relaxed and peaceful? Where are you stressful and anxious? What do these places say to you? What do you think they would say to an outside observer?
2. Open you journal and spend five minutes free-writing about what you saw and experienced as you took your stroll. Note the sights, smells, sounds and textures.
3. Think about which space made you feel the most uncomfortable or unhappy. Why? What specifically about it do you not like? What three words would you use to describe it? If you had a magic wand that could transform the space into something you were happy with, what would it look like? What three words would you use to describe it now?
4. Focus on the ideal space you have created in your imagination. What steps would you have to take to give it a makeover? What kind of resources or support would you need? Be as concrete as possible, and write out an action plan and timeline. For example:
My office is a disaster – dark and crowded with papers, books, files and boxes everywhere. It makes me feel stressed to go in there, so I avoid it. My ideal space is clean and organized, with a place for everything and everything in its place. I would have a clear workspace, lots of light and better storage.
Actions:
• Go through the stacks of papers and shred or recycle what I don’t need and file what I do want to keep
• Dust and vacuum
• Evaluate what storage and organization tools I need before I go to the store
• Go to the store and buy a filing cabinet, storage containers for the desk, a new standing lamp for better light and a new bookshelf
• Get help putting together the new furniture and redoing the layout of the room
Timeline:
I can do this over the course of the next month.
5. Continue to use this journaling process to make your spring cleaning tasks more manageable.
Have you ever used journal writing to help you tackle a project you have been avoiding? Betcha ya have. Please share your stories in the comments.
Maybe it's time for some Inner World Spring Cleaning?!? Sign up for the Journal Writing 27 Days Self-Discovery Challenge which starts Monday, April 2.
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