As I sit and type this, I’ve had about 5 hours sleep since the beginning of the week. It all started with a house viewing.
Its the second viewing we’ve done (we’re quite particular and follow our gut on these things) and this time we absolutely fell in love (unlike the first one where I left feeling so deflated).
So why the loss of sleep? Like any great house move story there’s always twists and turns!
We popped in an offer, which was negotiated and then accepted, provisionally. Because we don’t have an offer on our house, they won’t take theirs off the market for us. Talk about an emotional rollercoaster, and if you’re thinking “oh it’s not that bad” well… they have another viewing booked and my stomach is in knots..!
I’m not sure how people move more than once in their life, this is the first time moving from a home that’s ours to somewhere else and 3 days in I feel constantly sick. This isn’t a pity post though it’s a post I wanted to put out there about the feelings of selling and moving.
Mindset plays a big part in my business so I wanted to bring some of that over to my personal life. One of my favourite affirmations is keeping me level-headed at the moment.
“I focus on what I can control and let go of what I can’t.”
I did some googling earlier about the feelings and emotional turmoil of moving and I was really shocked to find that like other significant life stressors, the trauma of moving can cause a host of mental health and behavioral issues, including depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder. I mean it makes complete sense but I don’t think this is spoken about enough. You’re always told “moving house is one of the most stressful things to do” but why? Apparently there’s massive emotional responses that can have massive impact after you’ve moved. I always thought it was just the situation of waiting for houses to accept offers, complete, and keeping solicitors in check!
So before we go further here’s some tips I’ve found on how to process the house move a little easier:
- Make a plan, take small steps. (I’ll be putting together a list of things to think about in a future post)
- Accept that it will be an emotional experience, practice affirmations; words as simple as “I love my new home” or “I am excited and happy to move into my new home” can really help deal with the emotional stress.
- Calm the inner voice that’s trying to keep you safe in your comfort zone – if like me you’ve done loads of research you know that moving house is absolutely the right thing to do but you’ll still have to quieten the inner chimp that’s telling you that maybe where you are isn’t so bad…
- Get enough sleep – fatigue is such a big player in bringing on stress, make sure you’re drinking enough water too. Your brain needs all the fuel possible for the paperwork!
- Visit the new house, adjust to the surrounding areas, go to the shops you’ll shop at. Us humans are creatures of habit and we really don’t like change.
- Ask for help; whether that’s looking after the animals, kids or husband (ha!) you will need time for lots of paperwork and organising.
Since writing this post (7 days from when I started) We got our house on the market and sold it on the first viewing morning and had the offer accepted on our dream home. A 6-day turnaround which has felt like a month.
I hope you’ll join me on this new adventure, I’m excited to bring you along with me.
Ax
