How to spring-clean your relationships to restore your life

Written by: Anna Niemira

Spring-clean your relationships to restore your life

 Relationships are not easy, yet they do matter. Valuable relationships encourage us to become the best version of ourselves. Praise, but also constructive criticism, provide us with valuable information about our actions and attitude. Analyzing honest feedback might help us in understanding our strengths and weaknesses to reach our highest potential. Good relationships give us a lot of emotional and health benefits. They are the source of stronger resistance to stress, improved immunity, and prolonged life.  

Professional interactions

Companies conduct periodic evaluations of their employees, analyzing their performance and personalities. We should also systematically evaluate our work environment as a whole to determine if we need a change. We want to learn and grow and have perspectives for advancement develop steadily. Once we set our goals and expectations, we can assess if we are meeting our targets. A seasonal evaluation of our relationship to work and our employer is a foundation for our progress.

Navigating associations with our colleagues often requires diplomacy. We want to go beyond a purely business-like approach to create genuine bonds and fluid teamwork. Meaningful connections help us in our career success and the formation of friendships. Yet, we need to remember that our work environment represents a formal setting with obligatory norms and standards. Balancing our authentic self and official persona is a must for our work relationship savoir-vivre.

Express sympathy towards people and their passions! Listening to our colleagues allows us to get to know them better and to find common ground. Focus on interests and hobbies, pointing to similarities rather than differences. However, when necessary, set boundaries by limiting communication and contact with those who make work difficult, act unprofessionally, or cross the line by advancing too far into our personal lives. 

Virtual connections 

Social media platforms are for sharing the moments of our lives, not necessarily our lives altogether. 

Not long ago, more meant better. A sizable number of followers and more likes dictated our social media status. On virtual platforms, the quantity was a representation of our importance. We accepted invitations from anyone to grow our following. Eventually, modern marketing and branding companies started to perform value analysis, focusing on the quality of followers and engaging humans versus bots, shifting the focus to the quality of our online connections.  

It is highly advisable to review, from time to time, the profiles of our followers. Check for bots and hangers-on. Don't be afraid to wave them goodbye. Once you create a more consistent and systematic profile, your social media platforms will attract viewers and followers who will truthfully connect with you and your brand.  

It might be a time to split your personal and business social media accounts and channel your content accordingly. Create consistency in your presentation. Choose colors, patterns, and topics for your Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and other platforms you use to reflect your personality to assist in building a tribe that genuinely shares your interests. 

Friends versus frenemies

Great friendships are better with time. The more we have gone through thick and thin, the more we know we can depend on someone. Such bonds are precious. We are lucky if we surround ourselves with those who we can call true friends. Good friendships don’t necessarily mean easy friendships. We value companions with whom we can be honest about what we think and feel, with valuable feedback and opinions received in return. 

We need to be wary of people who pretend to be our friends while harboring hostile or envious feelings towards us. We often allow such individuals into our social circles to create the illusion of a sizable crowd around us. In the long run, such relationships can drain our energy, cause damage to our reputations, and expose us to unwanted troubles. 

In a moment of reflection, evaluating our friendships for their value will help us create genuine and satisfactory relationships. Who encourages you in your growth, and who wastes your time on trivial animosity? Evaluate the friendships you keep out of convenience and the friendships you actively engage in. Seek to surround yourself with friends who are sincere, authentic, and honest-to-goodness. 

Real love or unhealthy infatuation

Attending to our romantic relationships is a sensitive task. We should be realistic and logical, yet we are dreamy. We create a vision of the relationship we wish we had. We often see our partners through rose-colored glasses, with the qualities we value. We might turn our attention to our close relationship to analyze where we stand on an up-and-close personal ground. 

If we are in the dating scene, we could reevaluate what we want from a partner. We can figure out if the relationship can progress if we share the same values and goals. Actions speak louder than words; thus, we need to observe measurable steps and actual deeds to measure the progress of our relationships. We can consider ending relationships that are not evolving or shallow unions that we keep out of convenience or fear of loneliness.

For long-term partners, we could discuss ways to reinvigorate our relationship. We can set new goals or long-term plans together. We can enjoy planning short getaways and adventures during springtime, for a change of scenery. 

Spring is a synonym for rejuvenation and renewal. If what we want in our romantic relationship equals what we have, then right on. Yet, if we intuitively feel that our reality is too far away from our dreams, we should rethink our options, set new standards, and open ourselves to new possibilities. 

Relationships - our mirror reflection

The most important relationship we have is with ourselves. Yet, to feel good, confident, and poised, we need supporting connections with others. Some relationships challenge us and prompt us to think about our issues, unhealed wounds, and traumas. We carry on the pain from the past and project it onto our present. Sometimes, our inner blockages stop us from seeing a positive future. It is worthwhile to analyze situations, which provoke our anxiety noting our issues to address, heal, and change.

Similarly, we should reflect on stagnant relationships when we feel too comfortable and too at ease to the point of becoming motionless in our growth and development, either on a personal or professional level. Analyze your interests and join groups where you can connect with stimulating and captivating people to boost your creativity and imagination. Look for individuals with various perspectives, opinions, and different angles to each situation to hear other viewpoints. Read and research unknown or even controversial topics to broaden your horizons and meet new people in the process.

Improve your relationships, change your life

De-cluttering our home and surroundings go hand-in-hand with attending to our relationships. Choose your relationships wisely! Clear any issues and heal your close relationships! Accept the past, as it is a part of the future. Happy relationships make us feel positive and upbeat and encourage us to grow and develop, and to be the best versions of ourselves.

Share inner love, joy, and personality to create new meaningful relationships either in the virtual or in the real world!