For many people, the spring is a time of renewal whether in the form of renewal of the outdoor world around us or a renewal of the indoors with a spring cleaning routine. It seems as though worrying about oneself is done closer to the beginning of the year with resolutions in January. In many cases, those resolutions are all but forgotten by the time March and April roll around.

Spring can also be a wonderful time to look at a renewal of self and of purpose. For many, the warmer weather and ever-longer days can lead to a feeling of inspiration and lifting of mood. This can be a great time to start focusing more on self-care ideas and stress management to ensure the still new year is one of the best you’ve had.

Related: A New Year, A New Direction (Why Resolutions Suck) 

1.) Tossing Toxic People and Relationships

Are there people in your life that leave you feeling less than excited when you interact with them? Perhaps it’s time to cut your relationship with them off (at least temporarily). More often than not, removing people from your life that are causing you distress can be one of the quickest ways to see a positive change in your mood and outlook in general. It can be very draining to have others around that are constantly negative, overly judgemental, or even downright mean.

How to Tell if a Relationship is Toxic:

• You leave interactions with a person feeling drained or exhausted.
• You find the person to be consistently unreliable, or find that they don’t keep their word.
• You receive constant judgment from them or are subject to listening to their constant judgment of others.
• You find that it is difficult to trust them.
• You feel that you are walking on eggshells or that you are in an environment that feels hostile.
• They are more interested in themselves than they are with you or others around them.
• They are all talk, but no action.
• You find that they are unreasonably jealous or quick to place blame.

Related: Understanding Mental Illness: Living with Borderline Personality Disorder 

2.) Stop Putting Yourself Last

Look, as a mom, it’s pretty hard to not put yourself last. I totally get it. I have also found that years of doing just this has put a serious strain on my mental and emotional health. I mean here I was a mom of two, one with special needs, and a husband who was often in some other country or godforsaken desert.

I felt like I had no choice but to put myself last. It was just the way things had to be. Unfortunately, I had to learn the hard way that by never taking time out for yourself you really aren’t giving your best you to everyone you are putting before yourself.

• Make one day of the week a special day where you set aside time to relax and de-stress.
• Start a new hobby or pick up an old one that you used to love
• Find a babysitter once a month for a date night. Husband deployed or working elsewhere? Take yourself out for a good meal!
• Set one goal a month for yourself and strive to achieve it. This could be a new experience to have or skill to try. Perhaps even going back to school to learn a new trade you’ve always been interested in.
• Learn to start saying “no” to requests or obligations that bring you no joy or sense of purpose.

Related: How to Take Time for Yourself as a Busy Mom 

3.) Reboot Your Wardrobe

Have you been feeling a little less than excited lately? Perhaps it’s time to give your wardrobe a once over! Go through each piece of clothing in your closet and decide if it should stay or go. Once you have cleared out the old take the time to pick a few new pieces that work well with those you decided to keep.

Questions to Ask When Deciding What to Keep:

• Have you worn it in the past 12 months?
• Does it have sentimental value?
• Does it fit you well?
• Does it match other items in your wardrobe?

Some organizing gurus believe that sentimental value shouldn’t be taken into account when clearing items out of our lives. For me though, this just doesn’t sit well. Of course, we shouldn’t keep every elephant item we see because our great aunt Edna loved elephants. However, if something came from a loved relative or reminds you of a happy time in your life I say there is absolutely nothing wrong with hanging onto it.

I have so many things that have been lost in my many moves. In fact, I have very little left of my childhood or college years. This is most likely the reason why I tend to hold onto things a little tighter these days. However, I think with some things it is important to hold on for dear life even if you don’t have an immediate use for them. I could never do the minimalist thing. I like my stuff!

Related: Getting Grounded as a Mom with Mental Illness (Tips on Dealing with Anxiety and Stress) 

4.) Upgrade Your Organization

How many times have you felt like you were running all over town with a million things to do but no real direction? I have found that slacking on my organization is one of the quickest ways for me to feel out of sorts. I have a few different planners that I use and an app that my family and I all use to keep everything sorted. As an adult living with ADHD I have learned that organization can be a major lifesaver and stress reducer.

Tips for Organizing Your Life

• Make a list of each of the tasks you want to accomplish each day.
• Always have a notebook or app on hand to capture ideas that come to mind while traveling, eating, or even those thought-provoking showers.
• Focus on one task at a time rather than starting 10 tasks at once and dividing your attention among them.
• Make blocks of your time to accomplish each task. Give each task the number of blocks ( 15-30 minutes each) that you think you will need to accomplish them. By blocking out your day you can keep yourself from scheduling too much and becoming overwhelmed.
• Delegate tasks that don’t need your personal attention.
• Let go of the idea of perfection. Doing your best on every task is always a more achievable goal than striving for perfection.
• Sort and put away everything as it comes into your house or life. This means no leaving mail by the door and no appointment left out of your planner. Handle or schedule each thing or obligation the minute you are made aware of it.

5.) Assess Your Health

One of the quickest ways to make a change for the better is to make a change for your health. This could be something as small as drinking more water or eating less sugar, or something big like a diet or exercise plan. Several Americans are living lives today that are not as rich as they could be due to poor health. Obesity, cardiovascular issues, and chronic pain have become a way of life for many.

Take the time to look at your personal health and wellbeing to decide if there are any areas where you could make a change. Could you eat out one less time per week or have one less sugary beverage per day? This doesn’t have to be a whole lifestyle change but even simple swaps can add up to feeling much better throughout the day.

Simple Ways to Improve Your Health

• Take an exercise or Yoga class. Not only will you be working on improving your health but you will have the opportunity to meet other like-minded people.
• Start a habit of finding 3 things you are grateful for each morning or evening. This will help keep you in a positive state of mind and lower stress levels.
• Start tracking your water consumption and up your water intake if you are not getting enough. Even mild dehydration can lead to dizziness, headaches, and muscle cramps.
• Take a multivitamin each morning. Vitamin deficiencies can lead to a variety of uncomfortable side effects.
• Spend a day going for a hike or enjoying nature.
• Make an effort to get more sleep. Even a few hours of sleep missed each night can add up to big effects on your overall health.

Related: Our Favorite Apps to Help Learning Meditation for Chronic Pain 

Grab our Free Monthly Water Tracker

I have personally found that the simple act of drinking more water has had a major effect on my overall health and wellbeing. I had no idea that I wasn’t getting enough until I started tracking how much I was actually drinking in a day. Unfortunately, I was letting sugary drinks like soda and sweet tea play a bigger part in my hydration. This is a horrible idea because both of these, while they do contain some water, actually have caffeine which acts to dehydrate the body rather than hydrate it.

I’ve included a simple monthly water intake tracking sheet in this post to help you determine if you are drinking enough water. You will find that once you are getting the proper amount you will see positive changes in your health, skin, hunger levels, and much more!

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