Over the past weekend most of the snow has melted, temperatures are warming up, and flowers are peeking out. It looks like spring is finally here. In spring we often get our vehicles checked and our houses and yards in order. Did you know that spring is also an important time to assess your mental health and relationship health, and make adjustments where needed?
Winter was traditionally about survival. Many who were sick, injured, or did not have enough food or heat died in tough winters, even as recently as the 50s in the west. A great aunt who worked as an aide-de-camp for a US general in France after the end of the Second World War told me she would read daily reports of whole families being found frozen to death or starving. While we can physically survive better in the 21st century, winter still takes a toll on mental health and relationships—cold, dark, long nights are not conducive to anyone’s wellbeing. The cold, the dark, and the wet means less outdoor activity, less vitamin D, more isolation, increased reliance on substances, and a level of depression in many people. Relationships also struggle when there is less fun, and winter (or spring) can be a time of endings and beginnings. There is a need to regroup, assess, and move forward again after a long winter.
What can a spring mental health & relationship check-up do for you? It can help you assess the damage, which your emotional state can reflects. One of the best ways to deal with negative emotions is to process them, and therapy can help greatly with this. Once healthy processing starts, it becomes easier to move into the warmth, opportunity, and even fun that spring can bring. In therapy, we can also explore patterns in your life; including relationship patterns, depression and seasonal depression, and tools to manage these issues. Our lives and relationships are full of patterns, and one of my jobs with couples and individuals is to bring attention to the ones that are not serving you and to help you create better ones.
Like a good spring cleaning, a mental health & relationship check is like taking everything out of a room, cleaning it, and deciding what you want to put back and where you want to put it. Spring can be a good time to take stock of where you are in your life and relationships, and where you want to go. Send me a “hello” for more information on how a check-up can help you: john@ izumitherapy.com