Spring Cleaning for Your Mental Health

Written by Jen Fowler, Master Level Intern

I was watching the news recently when a story came on about the German practice of lüften — opening your windows to let out the stale air and let the fresh air in. I laughed. There’s a term for that? I do it all the time and had no idea it was even a thing. But I kept thinking about it — it’s a perfect metaphor for what we do in therapy.

Every spring, we see the articles and the social media posts about spring cleaning. When the days get longer, and the sun gets brighter, we dust the ceiling fans, scrub the baseboards, clean out the closets, and finally deal with what’s been hiding under the bed. We want our spaces to feel rejuvenated and ready for a new season. Our mental health deserves that same attention.

Spring cleaning for our mental health isn’t about fixing ourselves — it’s about noticing what’s been sitting around too long without proper attention. Thoughts like I’m not good enough, I should have it all together, what’s wrong with me, or why can’t I don’t just pass through. These thoughts settle in.  They become a part of our lives without even noticing - kind of like that pile of clothes on the walking pad you swore you’d use every day.

So this spring, try this: pick one thought you keep coming back to and ask yourself if you'd say it to a good friend. If you wouldn't — it might be time to look at it a little more honestly. You don't need to fix it. Just noticing it is enough to start.

And if change feels slow? Look at nature. I was walking my dog this week, looking up at the sky, thinking about daylight saving time coming. From now until summer, the days get longer — but not all at once. Just a few more moments of light each day, so gradual you’d never notice it. And yet by June, everything looks different.

Therapy works the same way. You keep showing up. Maybe you find a new way to handle stress, or you can sit with discomfort a little longer, or you say the thing you used to swallow. The changes are sometimes small and quiet — until one day you notice you've changed in big ways, a little bit at a time. And that's everything.