Stress Free Moving Tips
1. Stop Endless “Mind Chatter”Stay Focused In The Moment. Under stress, your mind can become an endless recording of negative chatter. “I can’t do this.” “I should have done that.” “What if this doesn’t work?” “What if that happens?” In an effort to halt such an energy drain, try staying focused in the moment. Concentrate fully on the activity at hand. Act deliberately. Be aware of how things feel, smell, sound, taste. Eventually, the chatter will fade. Once this happens, your mind quiets down anyou will discover more inner control.
2. Eliminate Distractions When you are absorbed in a task that absolutely must be completed, only a dire emergency should stand in your way. Don’t allow yourself to become sidetracked and pulled off balance. Turn off the television and the radio. Let your answering machine pick up your phone
messages. Leave a note on the front door asking friends to return later at a specific time.
3. Establish Your Boundaries A boundary is an imaginary line. Draw it around your “personal space” in order to protect your values and beliefs from the unacceptable behaviour of others. Once this boundary is in place,
you must be prepared to maintain it - particularly in times of stress. A wobbly boundary will only lead to resentment, confusion and frustration for all involved. A firm boundary acts as a guideline for others, letting them know what you will and what you will not tolerate.
4. Know Your Limitations When Setting Goals It is all very jolly to arbitrarily set goals to help you achieve your targets. However, having goals that are unrealistic and too difficult to achieve, will only create more stress … along with feelings of guilt (which you definitely don’t need in your life). Know your limitations. Know when enough is enough. Be proud of small achievements and don’t risk going into overwhelm.
5. Clearly Establish The Outcome When surrounded by a large number of tasks to perform, take one and start with the end result first. What is the outcome you wish to achieve? Once this is clearly established in your mind (and on paper!), you will have a much clearer route for arriving at that particular destination.
6. Have Contingency Plans Since you will be thinking about worst case scenarios anyway, take the time to actually write them down. Now, come up with two different contingency plans for each “horrific happening”. Commit them to writing. Then put the paper away in a safe place. Your mind is once again free to concentrate on more positive matters.
7. Do What You Don’t Want To Do … First You might have to break it down into manageable portions, but get it out of the way right at the beginning. You will feel positively airborne when you have this behind you, rather than in your face!
8. Forget Trying To Multi-Task Some can. Most can’t. Trying to do more than one thing at a time can spell frustration. You can’t find where you put something. You’re not sure whether you labeled something. You can’t recall phoning someone. Better to totally focus on one thing at a time. It doesn’t seem as invigorating as packing 6 boxes while preparing lunch and speaking on the phone to the moving company … however ….
9. Solve Problems, Immediately Problems happen. When they do, pounce on them. Do battle with them. They will never “just go way”. Instead, problems mysteriously multiply. By the end of the week, instead of one, you now have seven hundred and fifty-five!! So, eliminate them as soon as they rear up.
10. Be Flexible Things don’t always go exactly according to plan. Plan A goes missing. Plan B actually becomes Plan D. Was there ever a Plan C? Allow for flexibility. Forcing things to work according to a pre-determined schedule is totally anti-productive and extremely exhausting.
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