5 Fun Ways to Spring Clean Yourself |
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You don’t need January 1 to reset. A “spring refresh” can begin whenever you decide you’re ready.
Pay attention to moments of flow and learn how to create them on your own terms.
Starting is the hardest part. Make the task smaller, begin anyway, and let momentum do the rest.
Build renewal through connecting with someone from your past or creating small, meaningful rituals.
The resolutions many of us make at the start of a new year are doomed to failure. When I was very young and knew little about how to make things happen, I used to write down a few grand statements—usually in the same words—every January, only to be disappointed when those high hopes fizzled. Good intentions, no follow-through.
Feel free to choose your own time to begin this project. Spring has some advantages (and the spring is when you decide it is, regardless of what the calendar tells you). Below, you’ll find a few ideas that I’ve gathered from psychological research and hard-won personal experience, plus tips on that all-important follow-through, the thing that gets you from “I wish” to “I did it!”
5 Tips Toward Refreshing Yourself
1. Find a fresh route to your personal flow zone.
First, get familiar with how you already enter the timeless state of flow, when you’re so focused on some activity that you forget yourself. According to the original flow research by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, those who spend more time in flow activities are more motivated, more resilient, and happier.
I discovered that I get into flow during conversations with friends. I figured out why: I don’t feel judged among friends, and I feel competent enough at hours-long friendly banter. When you figure out what gets you into flow, and why, take this self-knowledge into another realm to feel stimulated and refreshed.
2. Face what you’re avoiding.
Doing something that you’ve been putting off removes a huge weight from your mind and frees up amazing energy. One way to urge yourself to plunge into a dreaded chore is to “trivialize the task.” Put your perfectionism aside for long enough to let yourself perceive that single activity as just another minor item that you will be able to cross off your list.
If you’re smart about making such lists, you will have written: “Begin chore of … whatever.” And once you’ve begun, you’ll feel energized.
3. Give yourself credit.
One way of focusing on the positive, even if you’re a die-hard non-optimist, is to list your old resolutions and reflect on those you at least partially achieved. Make note of the long, slow pattern of gradual change in your life, or let yourself feel okay about resolutions that you no longer care about as you’ve matured. We tend to recall our failures, but you can also learn to build up your resiliency and upbeatness by purposefully seeking out the successes.
4. Reconnect with an old friend.
Whether it’s someone you went to high school with a long time ago, or a more recent friend whose connection you’ve allowed to fade without meaning to, you can gain a sense of renewal by reaching out. I’ve done this with several old friends I’ve found on Facebook. We don’t necessarily have that much in common anymore, though when we do connect, I get to recapture a lot of pleasant feelings, especially the gratifying feeling of re-living that fondly remembered time.
What Is Positive Psychology?
Take our Optimism Test
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5. Invent a new ritual.
Someone once told me she celebrated extra anniversaries in advance, so she and her husband could have more of those joyful memories than a normal lifespan would allow them. Celebrate half-birthdays or any other happy occasions—including ones you totally make up—personalized to whomever you’re with, or even alone. After all, we do get into ruts in our lives, and the whole idea of spring cleaning is to clear out the cobwebs and see the world anew.
Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly (2008). Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. Harper Perennial Modern Classics.
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