Managing Your Emotions during Spring Cleaning

Spring cleaning can lead to happy and sad memories. Be prepared for strong emotions when cleaning, and don’t let it slow your progress.

teen faceOld objects mean old memories—be prepared to face them.

Digging through your closet, garage, or other areas in need of pruning inevitably start to feel like an archaeological dig into your past. Some of the things you find will bring happy memories, while others may bring less happy feelings. Emotions can run high when you’re pruning your belongings. That is a natural byproduct of the organizing process.

As you’re weeding through your things and taking out that which you no longer want, need, or use, expect that you will have some sort of emotional reaction. Even the toughest business types I have worked with come across something that triggers some feeling for them.

You can prepare for it by having some sort of support—whether it’s a friend, colleague, a professional organizer, or an organizing buddy who you can talk to if and when such a thing happens. You don’t want to let something you’ve come across that triggers an emotional reaction bring the whole organizing process to a halt. Don’t let that stymie the progress you’re making. Have a strategy for how you’re going to deal with it when it comes up. Know that it will come up.

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