March in Phoenix is truly a little slice of heaven. The weather is gorgeous – sunshine for days but chilly enough for a light sweater at night. Trees and flowers begin to grow beautiful blossoms – my allergies don’t approve, but too bad! The windows are down when we drive and the door is open at home while the kids play in the backyard. I just want to bottle up the freshness in the air and breathe it in whenever I’m feeling stressed.
That fresh feeling also brings along motivation for the upcoming months and the urge to get rid of the gloom of winter. Not that we have much of a winter gloom here in Phoenix with highs in the 60s and festivals galore but I digress…March. Spring. Fresh.
Spring cleaning is a hot topic this time of year and I’m no exception. As a cleaner (and Type-A) at heart, I get excited at the thought of wiping away dust, decluttering, and vacuuming lines into the carpet. I’ve been compared to Monica from Friends more than I’d care to admit. There is something about breathing in that fresh air, knowing that soon enough I won’t want to leave my house for fear of melting, that has me evaluating some important things other than the amount of dust bunnies blowing around the “closet of doom” (please tell me you have one of those too…I can’t be the only one). I need to spring clean my own attitude.
A big part of spring cleaning is getting rid of things that are weighing us down; making things light and fresh again. I can think of a few ways this applies to my attitude:
Paring Down on Technology
I’m just as obsessed with my iPhone as anyone else. Between texts, emails, news, calorie/macro tracking, photos, the reasons to be on my phone seem never ending. However, I have 2 beautiful children, a handsome hubby, and my sanity that also deserve my focused attention. It’s so easy to check the time, see alerts that have popped up, and spend the next 45 minutes in the time-suck of Facebook. I’m working on turning off notifications for all my apps and unsubscribing from email lists I don’t care about. Admittedly, I’m guilty of signing up for email subscriptions from bloggers that will “teach me how to get things under control” and then end up with 573 unread emails the next morning. Time to prioritize and get that technology clutter gone because I’m so much happier without it!
*Check out how one North Phoenix mom went ‘unplugged’ over here.
Analyzing Relationships
This one is hard. Truthfully speaking, I probably put way too much emphasis on certain relationships and worry too much about what others think. For now, I’m going to focus my energy on the relationships that are supportive and empowering in this moment. This sounds selfish but I think it’s important to do. I want my relationships to bring all parties involved happiness. Maybe that means leaving a Facebook group (or 5, ha!) because it’s not a great fit right now. Maybe it means unfollowing someone on social media because their posts induce a little anxiety. It also means letting go of the worrisome thoughts about the friend who repeatedly declines invitations to get together or texts that seem to always go unanswered. I’m trying to focus my energy on the positive instead.
Planning for Success
I let my yearly planner sit far too long without getting the love and attention it deserved. Making lists and writing down goals is one of my favorite things to do. I have been carving out time each day to make this happen so that I can feel organized and prepared. One key part in writing down my goals for the day/week is being realistic. I stay at home with a toddler and a baby who are hellbent on turning my living room into a WWE Raw main event. My goal of “clean downstairs” suddenly becomes very overwhelming. Instead, I break it down into daily items like “bathroom,” “organize fridge,” and “vacuum.” Same outcome over the course of a couple days only with less anxiety of a looming task to complete. This also ensures I have lots of playtime with my kids since I’m not (totally) overwhelmed!
I’m sure I could find plenty of other things to work on as we ease into the spring and summer months but I think these three will keep me plenty busy for now. I’m looking forward to feeling a little more relaxed and positive as I work towards sloughing off some of the extra weight my mind has been carrying around. I know if we can agree on anything it’s that, as moms, we can all work towards a happier, less stressed, more positive daily attitude so that we can enjoy our families even more!
Are you trying to clean up your attitude? Share how, or your tips, in the comments!
