While everyone else is removing dust and clutter in their homes, a mom of five wants us to embrace a different kind of spring cleaning. Laura Wellington calls it “life cleaning” and she recommends doing it every spring to remove negativity in your life. It doesn’t do anything to help with those boxes stacked in your garage or your overstuffed closets, but she says for her, it “eliminated unnecessary waste in time, energy and mental stress” and made her a “calmer and happier woman” and mother.
Wellington was inspired to life clean after ending an “exhausting” relationship and the positive impact it had led her to expand the approach to her whole life. The Connecticut mom’s top mental health spring cleaning tips include:
● Toss out people in life that drain you
● Shut down conversations that are not constructive
● Remove negativity in your life to make room for inspiration
● Let go of guilt and remember the things you do right as a parent
The one that Wellington says is most important for parents is letting go of guilt, which is also one of the hardest. She explains that none of us want to make mistakes with our kids and we tend to compare ourselves to other parents we look up to, then beat ourselves up for not being them. We’re hard on ourselves as parents because we love our kids so much, but Wellington reminds us that “we need to pat ourselves on the back now and again.”