This week is Mental Health Awareness Week. This year’s theme is nature and the environment. The evidence is clear that access to nature is crucial for our mental health, and millions of people discovered that during lockdowns in 2020.
Nature can play a role in protecting and supporting our mental health during challenging times such as moving house.
Click here for some top tips and ideas from The Mental Health Foundation on how you can build your own connection with nature. From exercise and protecting wildlife to getting creative outdoors, there are lots of simple ways to bring nature into your everyday life.
Why is there so much emotional and mental stress involved in moving house?
No matter how many times you’ve moved before, or how far you are relocating, moving house is always taxing, both physically and mentally, and not one to not be taken lightly.
The emotional impact of moving is in the top 5 most stressful situations we experience during our lives, it’s right up there with divorce.
- Most of us develop deep attachments to our homes and neighbourhoods that can be as strong as the relationships with our families.
- Most of us feel the need for security and your house isn’t just a roof over your head; it protects you and keeps the family safe. The very process of looking for a new home challenges our basic sense of security.
- Moving home is unpredictable and can present unexpected challenges and stresses. Different people vary in their ability to tolerate uncertainty, which can cause excessive stress and affect mental health.
- Most of us enjoy the familiar and predictable. Moving house may have positive outcomes and be exciting, but the process of change is another inevitable source of stress.
Here are some effects that moving can have you might not have known about:
Large amounts of stress can weaken your immune system.
Keeping track of everything, being on time for removal companies, conveyancers, estate agents, key handovers, furniture deliveries, disconnecting/connecting utilities and the million other tasks involved with a move can cause serious stress levels.
Health professionals know that high levels of stress can weaken your immune system, making you prone to picking up common colds etc.
Frequent home moves can result in depression and feelings of instability.
Research suggests that frequent moves can, especially in teenagers, lead to depression, feelings of instability, or an attitude of disposable relationships.
Tips on how to stay mentally and physically fit and healthy to survive the move:
- Identify things in your life that DO provide feelings of consistency and hold onto them. Basically, create consistency and stability in other aspects of your life during the moving process. E.g., for adults, then maintaining the same job might help this. Or maintain a regular hobby or a sport. If you can still maintain relationships with friends and family either by seeing them often or via video calls, then make sure you do this.
- Focus on the reality that you are not leaving friends and neighbours behind, but more that you are extending your friendship group as you make new friends and develop new relationships in the new neighbourhood.
- Try to remain positive, knowing that the move is, in the whole scale of things, a short process which will be over soon and will hopefully bring increased happiness and positive benefits.
- Ensure you get enough sleep, relaxation and exercise can all help your mental health.
- Try to look at packing the old house as an opportunity to declutter (emotionally and physically); A chance to spring clean the mind as well as your belongings. It can help create emotional space for new memories as well as physical space for new furniture.
- Ensure you fully understand about the costs involved in buying a house. You can reduce potential stress by better understanding the end-to-end costs of purchasing including Conveyancing legal costs, Stamp Duty, insurance, and removal companies etc.
- Try to arrange your moving day on a Friday, to give you the most time to unpack and organise your belongings over the weekend.
- Research and book a reputable trusted removal company at a reasonable price will help you too. This will reduce the physical demands of the move and reduce your stress because you have confidence in a professional company to take care of you and your belongings.
- Plan and pack up your current home first, box your belongings by room and ensure you mark boxes clearly so assist the removal company at the other end place the box in the correct room. It also means you wont’ be panicking trying to find something essential during the first few days in the new home.
- Letting go of negative feelings for outcomes that were out of your control, such as not getting the dream house you fought other buyers for, or the mortgage offer was not as high as you hoped. It’s frustrating when you don’t land your first choice for a home and it’s normal to be upset over it.
- Being constructive and organised where you can; plan and write to-do lists.
- Know your budget. Before looking at potential houses, look at your financial situation. Evaluate your expenses and income, your plans for the years to come, and the size of the mortgage you can afford to repay.
- Before you start looking at houses, create a house hunt to-do list. This helps to manage your time a lot better and organise what you need to do. Your to-do list may include the following:
- Ensure you have enough savings for the deposit and other related costs.
- Prepare all require documents.
- Create a list of the property features you ideally want.
- Talk to various lenders to compare mortgages.
- Visit out various locations to get a feel of the area and amenities.
- Consult a mortgage broker for assistance.
- Check out local schools to see if they would suit your children.
- Get recommendations from friends and family for conveyancers and removal companies.
In short…
Look after your physical and mental health; Make sure you get plenty of rest, take some headspace time out and don’t over do it. It may feel like the to-do list is endless and it will all never get done. And yet it always does get done!
Be adaptable and flexible. Nothing in a house move ever goes totally to plan so expect some hiccups along the way. Have a few contingency plans in case things go wrong, especially for children and pets.
Prepare yourself for the emotional fallout of moving, not everyone wants to move, sometimes it is forced. For many of us there is a lot of anxiety and apprehension is associated with the ‘unknown’ part of doing something new like moving house.
Mentally reassure yourself why the move is important and the benefits. Remind yourself that the NEW comes with OPPORTUNITIES such as making new friends and memories.
To find out more about Mental Health Awareness Week 2021 and to access wider advice, information and support please visit https://mentalhealth-uk.org/
