Spring Cleaning Your Soul: Emotional decluttering tips

Hey, Mama. Spring is here—the season of fresh blooms, brighter days, and the perfect time for spring cleaning your soul.

While you’re knee-deep in toy bins and empty boxes, wondering why you bother to buy toys when your kids are more interested in the boxes they come in, let’s pause for a moment. What if, along with clearing out the junk drawers and picking up hundreds of broken toy pieces, you made time for spring cleaning your soul, too?

Because let’s be honest: the mental load of motherhood doesn’t come with a handy chore chart or an instruction manual. It comes with mom guilt, endless to-do lists, and the act of putting everyone else first.

Before you know it, your emotional clutter is piling up, your chest feels tight, and your shoulders are bunched up to your ears. But this season, we are changing the narrative. It’s time to take action and let go of the guilt and grime weighing you down—one layer at a time.

Mom guilt is the uninvited guest who always shows up at the party and kills the mood. You could be going on, minding your business, when out of nowhere, a little voice in the back of your mind starts trying to convince you that you are a horrible mom.

Whether skipping a bedtime story because you’re too tired or ordering takeout instead of cooking, guilt will make you think you’re not doing enough.

Here’s the truth: You’re doing more than enough, and the fact that you even worry about being a good mom is proof of how great you already are.

Knowing and understanding all this still doesn’t stop guilt from showing up. We can, however, learn to declutter it and stop letting it take up prime real estate in our minds.

• Audit Your Thoughts: Grab a notebook (like the CAGIE Lined Journal Notebook on Amazon) and jot down the top three things you’ve felt guilty about this week. Look at each one and ask yourself, “Would I hold another mom to this standard?” Spoiler: The answer is probably no. Give yourself the grace you’d give your best friend.

• Flip the Script: Instead of focusing on what you didn’t do, celebrate what you did do. Made it through the day with everyone alive? Win. Put on a stain-free shirt? Bonus points.

• Start Small with Boundaries: Guilt often comes from saying “yes” to too much. Practice small “no’s” like, “No, I can’t volunteer for the bake sale this time,” or “No, I can’t make it this weekend.” Protect your peace, Mama.

It’s no secret that many moms lose themselves after having a baby. This is partly because motherhood often comes with the unspoken rule that your dreams go on the back burner while everyone else’s needs come first.

And sure, for a while, you might have to press pause while you readjust your life to take care of a whole human being, but the dreams you had before kids? They’re still there, waiting for you to dust them off and let them shine.

Whether starting that blog, learning a new skill, or reading more than a board book, spring is the perfect time to rekindle that spark and revisit what lights you up.

Action Steps to Reclaim Your Goals

• Create a Vision Board: Yes, even if it’s digital. Pinterest is basically a vision board playground. Pin images and quotes that align with your goals, whether a career shift, self-care, or finally figuring out how to make sourdough bread.

• Break It Down: When juggling 17 snack requests daily, big dreams feel impossible. Break your goals into micro-steps. Want to write a book? Start with a 10-minute journaling session twice a week.

• Ask for Support: This is your sign to delegate. Ask your partner, a friend, or a sitter to take over for an hour or two so you can work on you.

How often have you seen that self-care isn’t selfish; it’s survival? How often do you keep scrolling because you’ve heard it all before?

There’s a reason it’s repeated as often as it is, and that reason is that it works. As simple as prioritizing and practising self-care is, it is one of the most powerful tools in your arsenal when you need to spring-clean your life and have a fresh start.

It’s crucial to debunk the myth that self-care is only about spa days, 10-step skincare routines, and getting your hair done. Self-care is doing whatever you need to at any given moment to give yourself a break and take back control of the life you’ve lost, partly due to your new role as a mom.

Realistic self-care is about doing what works for you in this season of life. It’s less about bubble baths (though they’re lovely) and more about permitting yourself to prioritize your needs.

• Morning Reset: Start your day with a small moment of peace. Maybe it’s sipping coffee in silence, writing three things you’re grateful for, or doing a 5-minute stretch.

• Evening Recharge: Put the phone down 20 minutes before bed (no doom-scrolling, please) and replace it with a calming activity. A warm shower, a book chapter, or even a moment of deep breathing can reset your mind.

• Try Something New: Spring is a season of growth, so why not lean into it? Try that yoga class, experiment with a new recipe, or plant flowers with your kids.

Alright, let’s keep it real for a second. You know that moment when you’re folding yet another mountain of laundry, and a stray thought hits you like, “Is this my life now?” Or when you’ve held it together all through the morning chaos, only to lose it in the car after doing school drop-off? That, my friend, is emotional clutter. And we’ve all got it.

Here’s the thing: motherhood is a beautiful, messy, soul-stretching journey, but it’s also a breeding ground for a lot of emotional baggage we didn’t know we were signing up for. The constant pressure to do it all, the never-ending fear of not doing it well enough, and the lingering guilt when you take even a sliver of time for yourself—it’s a lot. And you shouldn’t have to carry it alone.

Truthfully, this is one of the hardest things you’ll ever have to do, but it is so worth it. Talk about it. It may feel like you’re being forced to walk across a platform of hot coals, but it works. Seriously. Whether it’s an ugly cry with your bestie over FaceTime or unloading your worries to a therapist who gets it, saying the hard stuff out loud is one of the most freeing things you can do. No judgment, no filters—just a raw, unedited release of everything you’ve been holding onto.

• Find Your Tribe: There’s nothing like connecting with other moms who get it. Finding your people is a game-changer, whether it’s a local mom group or an online community. For Mom’s Ache was created with this very purpose. Follow us pinterest and instagram to join the community and let’s get through these tough days together. Many moms are struggling silently and need to know they aren’t alone. News flash, Mama, you aren’t alone.

• Normalize Asking for Help: Therapy, life coaching, or even a vent session with a friend over coffee can do wonders for clearing your mental clutter. It’s ok to talk it out in a safe space that lets you know your feelings are valid.

Let’s flip the script on spring cleaning, Mama. Sure, it’s satisfying to Marie Kondo the toy bin and finally, get rid of that Tupperware lid that’s been mocking you for years. But what about spring cleaning your soul by clearing out the emotional clutter?

Spring is the season of renewal. You’ve spent so much time pouring into your home, your family, and everyone else’s needs. It’s time to recognize that you’re a priority and start pouring into you.

Give yourself permission to let go of the mom guilt. That inner critic will want to convince you it’s tough love, but it’s lying. It’s not making you a better mom; it’s just taking up space where joy could live. It’s so last season, and that’s where it belongs.

Most importantly, this is your season to rediscover you. The person behind the title of “mom.” She’s still in there—full of dreams, quirks, and a million little things that make you uniquely you. Maybe you’ve pushed her aside for a while, thinking you’d revisit when the kids are older or life is less hectic. But Mama, you don’t have to wait. Spring is your fresh start.

You’re not just “mom.” You’re so much more. And it’s time the world—and you—remember that.

Ready to clean up your soul’s clutter? Share your thoughts in the comments below or save this post for later on Pinterest. For more inspiration, check out my post on [Vision Board Ideas for Moms] — it’s the perfect next step in your journey to calm and clarity.