When you hear the words spring cleaning, you likely think of your home.
Opening windows, cleaning behind furniture, and freshening the space before summer.
However, spring can also be a good time for “cleaning” your life.
Considering the 8 dimensions of wellbeing.
We can ask if “clutter” is holding each area back and take steps to clean it up.
Below are a few ideas in each dimension:
Environmental – This is a natural one to start because it’s familiar. Looking around your physical spaces, what needs to be done – cleaning out too much stuff, a good deep clean, some regular maintenance, a repair, or something else. Make a list and start checking things off.
Physical – Here, physical isn’t our spaces, but rather our physical body. Clutter in our body could show up as headaches, upset stomachs, or brain fog. We can consider how our lifestyle and habits have an impact on our health. Maybe we aren’t getting enough sleep, eating an unhealthy diet, drinking too much alcohol, or something else.
Occupational – Our work has clutter that can be obvious or hidden. Clutter examples include too many meetings, overflowing emails a project with no clear next steps, or strained professional relationships.
Financial – This clutter could be the state of our day-to-day money management or that of our future financial foundation. Accounts can be disorganized, investment funds might need attention, estate plans or wills that are out of date, and lacking a clear sight on the inflows and outflows of our budget… just to name a few.
Intellectual – This clutter can take many different forms. For learners, there could be clutter of books not read, podcasts in the cue, or online classes registered for and not taken. There are the makers who could be overwhelmed by “materials” (wood, yarn, scrapbook supplies, puzzles). Creatives could have too many ideas creating clutter and weighing them down.
Social – Clutter in our social lives can show up as a calendar that is too full, relationships and connections that aren’t healthy for our overall wellbeing, an event that needs planned, or a list of activities to be scheduled.
Emotional – Emotional clutter are all the fears and feelings that we need to release. Our emotional clutter can be triggered by clutter in other areas of our life. As we start to recognize the other dimensions of wellbeing that impact our emotions, the clutter will be easier to see and work to release.
Spiritual – This is the most difficult dimension to define clutter. This could come from a lack of clarity of purpose or no clear understanding of self-care. Sometimes we fill our spiritual cup up with activities, but what it really needs is clear space…. free of clutter.
Your Turn
Have you ever considered clutter across all parts of your life?
As you read the categories above, which ones rose to the top with the most clutter?
What is one action you could take today to reduce clutter in one area?