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100% staff agreement
With spring break just ahead and a whole new season rapidly approaching, it’s time to take the daunting step of spring cleaning. But spring cleaning isn’t just limited to shelves or wardrobes. This spring, take the time to evaluate your relationships.
It might sound strange to implement the practice of spring cleaning in personal connections. But they share the same essentials: dusting off things (or people!) to which one has valuable connections, evaluating the benefits of keeping connections to those whom one is on the fence about and considering why one keeps those connections.
Good relationships are invaluable because they can affect an individual for the rest of their life. Good relationships are proven to increase happiness and satisfaction. Unhealthy relationships, on the other hand, may bleed into every other aspect of one’s life, draining energy and sucking attention away from everything else, and leading to feelings of negativity and frustration. Here are some ways to maintain mutually beneficial relationships this spring.
The first step to reevaluating relationships is dusting them off. Who are your closest family members or friends? How do you spend time with them, and why do you value spending that quality time with them? Then, consider relationships that have been sitting in the back of the drawer. Good friendships have healthy qualities, such as mutual respect and trust, which allow people to work problems out together. Respect and trust are also essential to have in order to set boundaries that allow both parties to feel comfortable with each other. Without those qualities, relationships at best lack strength and at worst can lead to peer pressure or even eventual fallouts. If the relationships that are gathering dust have healthy qualities, now could be a perfect time to rekindle them.
While spring cleaning might have the strongest association with removal, when it comes to relationships, cleaning shouldn’t limit an individual from adding people who bring joy to their life. Like how items in someone’s closet change, so do friendships. After all, that’s what spring cleaning is about — organizing to create a positive environment for you and others to thrive. There’s always room in life for more people who can help build that environment.
However, the most integral aspect of spring cleaning is to assess one’s self. How can you grow in your relationships? Building good rapport with friends or family members isn’t a one-sided game. Both establishing and reinvigorating your connections to them come from you, and that’s why you need to know yourself and what positive attributes you bring to the table that can help forge healthy and long-lasting friendships.
To have healthy relationships, an individual needs to stay true to themselves and their values while appreciating and respecting those of their friends. This can mean developing respect and trust for yourself. Ask yourself what values matter and what you contribute to your friendships, and don’t compromise either. Remember, relationships aren’t a one-sided game — everyone brings different qualities to the table, and it’s important to evaluate yourself just as much as you evaluate others.
It’s hard to take the jump from spring cleaning wardrobes to relationships, but it’s equally as necessary to create a welcoming and encouraging space — if not more. Know that it’s okay to let go of relationships, but it’s important to maintain the positive ones and allow room for more. The more aware and empathetic you are, the more room you have for growth and deeper relationships. This can benefit you and others for the entirety of your lives. What better time to take that step than now?
