If you’ve ever wondered how tough moving home is, it’s rated up there as one of life’s most stressful experiences. In fact, a poll back in 2016 found that two-thirds of people put moving home as the most stressful life experience, triggering more stress and anxiety than relationship breakdowns, starting a new job and even divorce!
Experts advise taking as much time to deal with your move as possible. That means planning in advance, starting the laborious process of sorting and packing and making practical arrangements as soon as you can.
It’s also worth reminding yourself that feeling stressed out or anxious is perfectly normal and no matter how well-organised and resilient you are, moving really can take a toll on your mental wellbeing.
So when you’re facing the stress of moving home, is there anything you can do to help ensure you come out the other side as unscathed as possible?
Self-help and wellbeing might be buzzwords right now, but there are lots of techniques that can provide you with real stress-relieving benefits, it’s all about finding techniques that work for you personally.
Below we share some tips and techniques to help you deal with stress more effectively.
Don’t put things off
Avoiding daunting or difficult tasks is a common tactic, but delaying doing things that need to be done will only lead to a build-up of stress. Even if you make a conscious effort not to think about something that needs to be done, it will still be there in your subconscious gnawing away and causing you stress.
Be as pragmatic as possible, make a list and then prioritise. We promise that once you’ve got something big out of the way you’ll feel better for it!
Enlist help
It’s not a sign of weakness to ask for help, so don’t struggle alone. If you have a support network, put it to good use, whether it’s your partner, a friend or even older kids that you can ask for help, make sure that you do!
Don’t expect too much of yourself
With so much to do, moving home can be extremely time-consuming and you’ll take on an immense physical and emotional load. Most of us will still have normal life to deal with too throughout the move, from handling childcare and doing the school run to fitting in a full-time job and walking the dog, juggling lots of responsibilities can be draining and stressful in itself.
Try to cut yourself some slack and recognise the fact that when you’ve got a lot on your plate, you’re bound to feel more anxious and stressed, so try to make sure your to-do list is realistic.
Take time off
As well as not expecting too much of yourself and pushing yourself too hard, it’s important to ensure you take some time off for self-care. Whatever self-care looks like to you, you need to make sure make space in your schedule.
Whether that means booking time off work for a relaxed lazy day, going to bed early and getting a good night's sleep or taking a couple of hours for yourself to do a yoga class or to spend time with a friend, doing something you enjoy and that relaxes you, whatever it takes to avoid you burning out is just as important as doing everything else.
Look after yourself
When you’re busy it’s easy to let things like your nutrition and fitness regime slip. Resorting to a takeaway at the end of a busy day or missing out on your normal gym session can often happen when you’re busy, but letting your health and nutrition slip can have an adverse impact on your wellbeing, taking a toll on your immune system and leaving you feeling even more tired and stressed out in the process.
Even if you feel like you don’t have time, it’s still important to take care of yourself. Healthy food and maintaining your exercise routine will boost your mood and help you keep on top of things, but at the same time, don’t push yourself too hard!
It’s fine to have the odd takeaway and to miss the a workout now and again, so don’t heap guilt upon yourself, but do try to see looking after yourself as something that’s just as crucial as anything else on your to-do list!
Learn to recognise stress
Learn to recognise stress in not only yourself, but in family members and even in your pets. Did you know that even the family pets can be affected by stress? Find out how to spot the symptoms of stress in your pets here.
In humans, stress can manifest in a number of different ways;
- Concerns about financial costs
- The uncertainty related to moving
- A fear of change and worries about settling into your new home/area/job
- Setbacks and delays in the completion process
- Feeling overwhelmed with too much to do
- Underestimating the physical and mental impact of moving home
Stress can easily creep up, and feeling tense is an easy tell-tale sign. Feeling tense, however, is something that many of us aren’t actually aware of, so some of the physical symptoms you can look out for include;
- Tension in your body, including sore and tight muscles
- Tension headaches
- Tummy upsets and a churning tummy feeling
- Feeling anxious a lot of the time
- Trouble sleeping, either falling asleep or waking up frequently during the night
- Feeling emotional and tearful
- Feeling overwhelmed
- A short temper and being more snappy than usual
Once you’ve learned to recognise stress, you can take active steps to mitigate it and whilst you won’t be able to eradicate stress entirely, you should be able to actively manage stress levels to help you get through the moving process.
Let us take some of the stress out of moving home with our online conveyancing services which could see you save both time and money.