Whether it’s a move or long-time travel, learning to adapt to new environments can be an immense challenge, but with the right strategies, you can find a sense of peace and stability amidst the changes.
Moving, often ranked alongside divorce and the death of a loved one, stands as one of life’s most stressful experiences, with unexpected moves, like those prompted by disasters, amplifying the strain. Having personally experienced 13 relocations in the past 24 years, I can only stand behind the fact that quite nothing shakes up your life quite as moving – especially when it is to a new country.
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Preventing Psychological Ailments
Building and maintaining resilience is one of the main factors in managing high-stress situations. Yet, once you’ve made the move, what steps can you take to enhance your coping mechanisms?
Practices like breathwork, meditation, and mindfulness can provide relief in stressful moments. However, here are five distinct strategies I’ve outlined below, tested, proven, and tailored specifically to enhance your ability to deal with the stress of moving.
Effective Psychological and Practical Methods to Cope With a Move
1. Take Walks or Rides Around The Area
Creating a mental map of the place, and seeing the people and conveniences around can make you gain a sense of familiarity that is so important to feel comfortable and adapt to the new situation.
Just with any type of stress, fresh air and movement are big benefactors for mental health which is an even more important priority when facing challenging situations.
Moving can keep the schedule packed with things to cross off the checklist – registering, bureaucracy, packing up, shopping essentials. It may be more than tempting to just cocoon at home whenever you take a few hours off, however, I encourage you to take a walk or drive with your bike around the area you have moved to. Treat it as a little holiday if you can, exploring your new city with tourists’ eyes. I guarantee you will remember how different the city looked to you a year from now!
2. Focus On Creating Routines
The moving days have you thrown out into a confusing, stressful situation, not knowing what to grip onto. Leaving what you know behind, it is important to look after yourself to maintain stability. This can be easier achieved by focusing on establishing routines from the get-go – morning routines, evening routines, workout routines, eating habits, cleaning habits – all help you create structure in the mess.
It’s easier to break old habits and form new habits in new environments. One study shows how circumstances that stay the same have a deciding factor on whether old habits will stick when moving. This study from University College London also argues that being taken out of your normal environment is one of the easiest ways to change unhealthy habits, providing as they call it a „window of opportunity“ that you can capitalize on.
Incorporating old habits with new ones can be the best recipe to both feel a sense of familiarity and home as well as ease the transition between the two locations while using the opportunity of your stressed brain to create new neural pathways.
3. Create Your Personal Space
If you don’t have time to pack up all the boxes at once, consider prioritizing the objects that lay dearest to your heart first. Maybe it’s the photos of your friends and family, the blanket that reminds you of your favorite vacation, or the vase you got from your grandma.
It’s unpleasant but avoidable to feel as though you are sleeping in someone else’s house or bed when you have just moved. That’s when decorating the space with meaningful things can be an easy way to feel an anchor of safety in your environment and speed up the process of finding comfort in the new place, ultimately making the moving process less stressful.
4. Throw Yourself Into The Action
When I have talked to people and reflected on my own experiences with moving, there is one factor that all positive experiences have in common: getting into activities and groups from the very start.
This may happen naturally if you are moving into a shared flat or starting at university, but in some cases, you start from zero alone. In those cases, it is especially important to have a plan on how to get out there. Some examples you can look into include classes, Facebook groups, or expat groups. Keep yourself busy!
Loneliness is a huge stressor for humans. Searching out people who are familiar with the city will both decrease your stress and provide enormous help with the adjustment. Having locals to turn to with any questions can be a deciding factor for how well you will cope with the relocation.
Rome wasn’t built in one day – neither will your new life be.
5. Be Patient With Yourself
Rome wasn’t built in one day. Neither will your new life be. Be gentle and kind with yourself during this period, because you need it more than ever. Sleep well, eat well, but most importantly, have patience. Things will get easier day by day, and before you notice, you have integrated into this new chapter. Give yourself credit for having come so far – it is after all one of the most challenging life events one can go through.
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Love,
Jules
