How to Avoid Moving Stress – Best Tips in Trade

Moving stress is quite a common thing when it comes to cross country moving, and a lot of people experience it. Every professional long-distance moving company can tell you about the clients that go through this tough period. And we want to help you as much as we can. That’s why we’ll break down this problem into bits, explain every aspect of it, and suggest some solutions that can help you handle the stress of moving and overcome it.

If you’re planning on moving state to state and you suddenly start feeling anxious and overwhelmed, it means that you’re experiencing moving stress. The one thing that you can do is to learn why this unpleasant reaction happens and how to deal with it. No matter if you’re creating a moving out for the first time budget or you’re a veteran in moving across the country, this can happen to you, and the feeling is equally bad. Here’s what you can do to solve this problem.

Does Moving Cause Anxiety?

If you google what are the 3 most stressful things in life, you’ll find long-distance moving as one of the top results next to the loss of loved ones, divorce, or illnesses. Lots of people suffer from this feeling at some point in their relocation, and many don’t know how to handle it. It can cause anxiety, depression, insomnia, or some other physical or emotional reaction.

Why Is Moving Stressful?

The main reason why is moving so stressful is not knowing how to handle sudden changes. Packing your whole life in boxes, leaving familiar faces and places, and heading somewhere to start all over is a major change that requires a lot of mental strength. Many additional factors can worsen the situation, such as moving to another state alone, moving to a new city alone, or moving without a job. The uncertainty causes sleep deprivation, and if you’re relocating somewhere jobless, it also involves money as a factor. Another thing that usually causes problems is the limited time to do everything. Even with perfect planning, some things can go unexpectedly wrong and cause chaos in your schedule. That will mean less time for other tasks and anxiety when trying to manage all of it.

A man and woman holding heads frustrated because they are relocating to another place
Relocation can be very frustrating and demanding

Moving Stress Affects Everyone Equally

Relocation doesn’t come easy to anyone, and the same applies to those surrounding you. If your whole family is relocating, they’re probably experiencing similar feelings as you, especially the kids. Leaving friends at a young age is much more difficult and stressful because they’re in the period where it’s important to adapt and feel accepted. Changing schools, teachers, and habits also comes hard to them. If you are going through a lot now, everyone who lives with you is likely to share the same feelings and energy. This also applies to cats, dogs, or whatever is your animal companion. If you’re moving with pets, they will also need some adapting to do so that the nervousness doesn’t cause them health or behavioral issues. Take a moment and see if anyone else in your home shares the same bad feelings you have. If they are, you can unite against this problem.

Two men sitting on the stairs talking about serious topics
Pay attention to those around you who are probably feeling the same as you do

How Do You Relieve Moving Stress?

Locate the exact thing that bothers you and focus on it. Is it the fact that you’ll be far from your friends and family? Is it the fear of not being able to finish everything or some other type of overthinking? Once you realize that you’re having this problem and figure out its origin, it will be much easier to deal with it. However, there are some universal things that will make you feel better about moving cross country, and they’re all about getting organized with your action and thoughts. How to do that?

Be in Control of Your Tasks, but on Time

There is almost no chance that something will go wrong if you think through everything early. The key to lowering nervousness is starting early – at least six to eight weeks before the day of the relocation. Or, another way to say this is – start as soon as you’re completely sure that you’re relocating. Then, there will be plenty of time for everything, even for the scenarios when something goes wrong. Before you start, create a moving to-do list. When you have all the tasks in front of you, you’ll understand better how much time some of them ask for and how long you will deal with them. Print a to-do and what to buy checklist or keep one on your phone. It’s one of the crucial moving hacks.

Learn How to Handle Each Item

In case you want to do all the packing yourself without hiring cross country movers, you have to know how to pack every specific piece in your home. This is especially important if you’ve never done it before. So, if you don’t know how to pack clothes for moving, how to pack plates for moving, or how to pack glasses for moving, you should read all the guides and watch all the tutorials. If you have to handle something more difficult, consider getting professional help. Learning how to move a piano isn’t impossible, but it does ask for some expertise. Do all the packing early, and keep in mind that you can always pack some stuff way ahead, such as off-season clothes or items you keep in your home for some reason but rarely use them.

If You Worry About Money, There Are Ways to Save It

A lot of our clients worry about finances because hiring a cross country moving company isn’t cheap, and there can be some unexpected costs if you don’t hire reputable state to state movers. Relocation doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg. You can do a few things to save money:

  • Declutter – Get rid of everything you don’t actually require, or that it will be cheaper to buy new than to relocate. Go through all the rooms and see do you really need those five jackets or that broken rocking chair on your new apartment checklist. If not, decide whether you want to sell those items, donate them, or just throw them in the trash. Selling those things will even be a way of making money.
  • Make your relocation expenses checklist – When you keep track of how much you’ve spent, you’ll be able to manage all the costs and to predict how much you have left at any moment of your relocation.
  • Compare the quotes – If you opt for hiring long distance movers, don’t go with the first company you bump into. Call several companies and see how they charge, do they seem reliable, and what price are they talking about. Once you find the one that fits your budget, you can book the cross country moving services and pay the price you like.
  • Save on packing supplies – It is better to get brand new boxes and packing papers, but you don’t have to. There are much cheaper options and even free ones. You can get boxes from your local stores and use blankets instead of bubble wrap. If you have a local newspaper, you can ask their printer if they have any extra paper they won’t be using.

Don’t Put Additional Pressure on Yourself

You’re not obligated to do everything at once like the professionals would when you get long-distance moving services. You can start small and go on from that. Leave one day just for making a basic list of stuff that needs to be done. Then, you can create a financial plan. After that, you can take a look around the house and see what you can leave behind or sell. When you schedule tasks on single days, you’ll start feeling more and more relieved.

Accept Stress as a Normal Part of a Change That’s This Big

Is moving stressful? Of course. Can you act like the nervousness isn’t there? Not likely. If you accept that this is just a phase that will pass soon, you’ll start looking at it differently. Take it easy on yourself and make sure you leave an hour or two during the day for relaxing or listening to music. A good night’s sleep will help you immensely and improve your ability to keep up with difficult situations such as this one. It is particularly important to sleep between ten PM and four AM – it’s when the brain needs to rest the most. In the end, if you chose to relocate, or if some circumstances have led to that, the outcome is the same – you will move, and the change will happen, so just accept it and go with the flow.

One of the Essential Parts of Relieving Moving Stress Is to Ask for All the Help You Need

We’re talking about all possible help – mental and physical. If you need someone to talk to or to give you a hand with carrying heavy objects, call your friends and family. They will surely understand the difficulty of the position you’re in, and they will be there for you. If they are as sad as you are because you’re leaving and they aren’t effective at cheering you up, you can always try psychotherapy. An expert will listen to you and have amazing advice for you that might change your perspective. They can give you some prescription to help you sleep better or handle panic attacks and anxiety more easily.

A girl relocating to another place holding her head while being surrounded by boxes
Don't go through emotionally demanding events like this one by yourself

Ask for Professional Relocation Services

Instead of taking care of everything alone, you should get long-distance moving services and take some of those worries off your back. For a price you agree to pay, the company will do all the disassembling, packing, loading, transporting, unloading, unpacking, and re-assembling of your belongings. You will have much more opportunity to focus on yourself and your emotions while all the physical work is being done by someone else. They can also provide you with auto transport services and rent you a storage unit in case you need it.

It’s Time to Say Goodbye to Moving Stress

Try these tips and see how well you are progressing – you should start feeling better as soon as you take action. You know yourself best, so listen to yourself first and try to focus more on all the good sides of relocation. It’s not all that bad, and changes in life are good sometimes. You’ll be able to experience new places and meet new friends while keeping in touch with all of that you will miss when you leave. The move will happen no matter how you feel about it, so it’s all on you to decide what will be your point of view. Relax, take a deep breath and let go of that negativity – you’re on a doorstep of an adventure with many possibly amazing things, so do yourself a favor, and dive in.

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