Spring cleaning isn’t just a concept for your home or apartment; it’s not something you do only in your closets or your garage. Spring cleaning is something you can do for your whole life—being intentional about decluttering, getting rid of the people, places, items, and habits that bring you down.
In fact, spring cleaning can be an important step in your recovery—a chance to sift through the things that help with your sobriety and the things that hinder it; to embrace the former but to cut ties with the latter.
Even if it doesn’t feel like Spring where you live, there’s no time like now to get your life in order.
Here are some pointers to keep in mind:
- Think about all the relationships you’re in. Be earnest in your appraisal of them. Are there people in your life who just drag you down, stress you out, or routinely tempt you back toward old, unhealthy habits? If so, you may want to sever ties with these folks.
- At the same time, use this spring cleaning period to celebrate the positive relationships you have. Are there people who encourage you, and make you want to be better? Dust off these relationships. Reach out to those people to say thanks. Reconnect with the vital members of your support system.
- Dust off your talents, too! Remind yourself of the things you’re good at, and recommit to them. Take encouragement in the gifts you have been given.
- Move on from bad habits. Make an inventory of the little rituals or activities that consume your days and your weeks, and be honest about the ones that are holding you back. Replace them with something healthy and new—meditation, exercise, reading, music, or whatever else.
- Catalog the places that tend to stress you out, bring up bad memories, or tempt you to unhealthy behavior—and make an effort to avoid them as best you can.
Do some spring-cleaning for your life—and give your recovery a chance to progress.
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