Managing Mental Health and Stress During an International Move
Moving internationally may bring a mix of intense emotions and stress. We want to help you move overseas effortlessly by providing all the information you need to make the best choices. In this guide, we will share with you some of the mental health and stress issues that might affect you as you prepare to move and ways to overcome these challenges.
The emotional stress of moving
We realize that moving is about making a fresh start in a new location. But this equally means facing an uncertain change. As humans, we love stability and never change, which is why it might be disconcerting to make that move.
Secondly, your financial resources might be limited which would make it difficult to make the best decisions about the moving services you need. Again, when moving to a new location, the weeks to the actual moving day might seem as though your life is on a temporary pause further bringing on a lot of emotions and tensions.
What to do to ease the stress of moving
You must realize that getting overly stressed by moving activities may become detrimental and unbearable to your mental health. Hence the following are steps you should take to respond better to the stress of moving.
1. Identify the symptoms of stress
As you plan your move, it’s highly important to pay attention to the signs and symptoms that might mean that you are being overly stressed. Physically such stress symptoms include uncontrollable shaking, aches in the different parts of the body, chest pain, and many more. With regards to your mental health, moving stress might cause you to become forgetful, lack organization, think negatively, worry constantly, and fail to make sound decisions. You may also feel anxious and insecure, or filled with guilt and grief about leaving your old home behind. All these feelings become amplified as you begin planning on moving. If you are experiencing any of these do share this with your partner, family, close friend and consider consulting a professional.
2. Do your research
Knowledge is always a good move to combat the constant worrying about moving seamlessly. Fortunately, the best movers in Singapore can provide a starting point of providing all the information you need to become comfortable about moving.
3. Declutter
After living in your current home for some time, it’s natural, that you have acquired lots of memory alongside junk. However, you can’t move all that stuff overseas – your moving costs would be astronomical if you did! Hence you need to carefully declutter your home. Be honest about the items you use; not items you plan on using in an ambiguous future. Here are some tips to help you declutter. This will also be a good time to donate your items you are giving away and this list in Singapore might be helpful.
4. Ask for help
Moving is a grueling task. Hence, ask your family members and friends for help. Working with them to pack your belongings also offers great bonding and support experience that would also help improve your mental health. If you don’t want to involve your family and friends, consider hiring professional movers. They will cost you more, but the peace of mind and less stress will be worth it. Understand the cost involved as early as possible so that you can put aside a budget for your move.
5. Create a moving timeline
Don’t wait until the last minute to begin packing your things – that is a surefire way to become overwhelmed with stress, anxiety, and heart-wrenching emotions. Instead, schedule a timeline over a good period on how you would prepare for your new home. That said, you must be realistic about your plan. The devil is in the details, learn more about SIR’s approach to Move Planning and Management
6. Prepare a checklist
Even if you are using a professional packing service from international movers in Singapore to get your things into containers, there’s still a lot of work to do. To ensure you don’t forget a single detail, consider creating a checklist to guide you. The checklist will include items such as the boxes and containers for packing your stuff, financial obligations, travel, and contingency plans among others. A checklist helps you stay organized, which in turn gives you a feeling of control. Most reputable international movers have these checklists available but if you would like to create one for yourself do consider Free Checklists/Notes on Apps that provide options for links and reminder alerts to help you stay on task.
7. Focus on the new and exciting stuff
Changing your mindset is important to get all the benefits of moving. While you feel sad about leaving your present home, you need to focus on what you are gaining? Think about the new opportunities, neighbors, and routines. Focus on all the pleasant surprises that are yet to come.
Surely moving overseas is not easy. You will need to adjust and adapt to the new culture, people, and environment. But then it can be an exciting adventure if you can learn to cope with the stressful situation. That said, follow the tips we have outlined in this article to help make the stress of moving more manageable.
*This article is an opinion piece only - Resources in Singapore to help cope with stress: If you need more information/resources to help you cope with stress, you can go to Belle, the Beyond the Label help bot.
SOS (Samaritans of Singapore) also provides emotional support for those in crisis.
Suicide Prevention and Crisis Helplines
Daily/24 Hours SOS (Samaritans of Singapore) 1-767
Care Email pat@sos.org.sg
Care Text https://www.sos.org.sg
accessible via Chatbox function
About SIR MOVE
Established in Singapore in and Malaysia since 2006, SIR Move Services is a Singapore/British brand, and it is a moving company that continues to build a business based on integrity and trust. With a firm belief that 110% attention to the technicalities involved in moving is an expected pre-requisite, it is these strong building blocks that have served as a foundation for their mission which is, to ensure that the delivery of their services comes with consistent quality of exceptional standards at every level and in every move. SIR provides Complete Move Solutions for International, Commercial and Domestic Relocations inclusive of storage and insurance. We move pets too. Moove My Box (MMB) is the newest addition to our suite of services allowing customers to ship small shipments faster. Similar to Air Express Delivery with the addition of packing and collection services. SIR Move is a qualified FIDI/FAIM Quality Mover.
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