Spring has sprung! Life has gotten its color back, and like the world around us, we must take the time to refresh and renew.
At this time of year, dust, pollen and weeds start infiltrating our lives, so what better time than now to deep clean the places we care about?
While spring cleaning may sound intimidating, especially during the peak of the semester, it acts as a form of reset and check-in, which is vital to nurturing our personal well-being and emotional health.
According to University of Arizona Counseling and Psychological Services mental health clinician Cynthia Klatte, we are always either positively or negatively affected by the spaces we spend our time in.
“Our living environment can be our sanctuary, a place to retreat to where we can create calm, soothe our nerves when we are stressed. Or they can add to our stress […]. So the well-being of our space can impact our mental and emotional well-being and on the other side, our mental and emotional well-being can affect our physical space,” Klatte said.
It’s important that we take the time to care for our homes, ensuring they positively affect our mental health. Taking action starts with setting achievable goals and committing to them.
“[Ask yourself] ‘what can I reasonably do right now?’ and start with one area and focus on that versus ‘I need to do everything.’ We can get overwhelmed looking at the big picture and that can sometimes make us feel like giving up, [so] taking it one step at a time, one area at a time also helps,” Klatte said.
While deep cleaning under the stove burners or on top of the ceiling fan may be a once-in-a-while task, establishing a routine that encourages regular tidying can help maintain a cleaner space for longer.
“We’re more likely to stick with it if it’s a part of our regular routine, so maybe picking one hour out of the week […] and try to make it a little more fun: play some music that’s energizing [and] can get you moving, so it makes it less of something to dread,” Klatte said.
A helpful technique for cleaning as a college student is to focus on one area or task each weekend leading up to the end of the semester. For example, you could wash all your bedding this weekend, then deep clean your bathtub and organize under your sink the next.
Ultimately, the goal of spring cleaning is to experience a sense of renewal and refreshment. Sarita Dixon, a sophomore at the UA, mentioned that for her, gardening is one of the most fulfilling ways to take part in this seasonal reset.
“Every single year around this time we have a ton of weeds [and we’ve] got to pull them all out so that they don’t take the nutrients away from the rest of the plants,” Dixon said.
Habaneros and chili plants are Dixon’s favorite to grow during this time of year. Her number one tip for gardening in Tucson is to make sure your plants are growing under shade, especially with the intense summer heat just around the corner.
There are countless other ways we can achieve the springtime refresh, like rearranging furniture or giving ourselves a “digital detox,” as UA science writer Daniel Stolte stated in his article entitled “Spring-cleaning: Tips for cleaning your workspace and decluttering your mind.”
“Finding that balance between necessary device use and mindless scrolling has positive impacts not just on a person’s academic or professional success, but also on life as a whole life, including sleep and mental and physical health,” Stolte said.
Finding the motivation to hop on the bandwagon of self-improvement can be difficult. Klatte recommends the book “Healing Spaces: The Science of Place and Well-Being” by Esther Sternberg.
Spring cleaning is one of the best ways to refresh your life and power through the end of the semester, so grab your gloves, turn on your favorite album and spring into a productive season!
