In just a few days, we’ll be moving to a new place. One part of me is looking forward to it. The other part is dreading it.
More space, lower costs, and my very own room to create in: these are things I think I want. Who wouldn’t?
But then there’s the rest of it, the packing and hauling and unpacking.
And the deciding.
Hey, I’m Being Comfortable Here!
I’m comfortable here. I know where everything goes and sometimes I even know what I’m supposed to be doing.
Now I have to start all over. I have to decide where things go and what I’m going to do with all that added space.
I’m also going to lose a lot of my excuses.
With my very own office/studio/laboratory, I won’t be able to blame my procrastination on the noise coming from my son and his friends or the television. Anytime I wish, I’ll be able to go to my room and create in peace.
No more excuses? What will be expected of me?
But the Ball’s Already Rolling
Despite my reservations, this thing is going to happen. We’re going to make the move.
We’ve given notice we’re leaving our current home, we’ve signed the lease for the new one, and, come Friday, we’re loading the trucks and heading out.
I’m sharing this because I think it represents what we go through anytime we want to make a move but find ourselves stalling.
What Keeps Us from Making Our Move
We have our reasons for wanting to make it, but we dread the requirements: the packing, the hauling, the unpacking, and, good grief, the deciding.
It’s so much easier to stay put, to do things the way we’ve always done them in a place that’s comfortably familiar.
In order to overcome this inertia, we have to give ourselves notice that we’re leaving one thing behind and beginning another. And we have to somehow sign a lease on the new thing. In other words, we have to make a commitment.
The Perils of a Personal Pact
The unfortunate difference is that it’s so much easier to break an agreement we make with ourselves. We can cancel our notice and tear up our lease, and, in most cases, no one else will even pay attention.
If you and I are going to make our move, we have to find a way to value the promises we make to ourselves as much as we do the ones we make to others.
Sign that Lease and Frame It
I don’t have any easy answers here. I struggle with it too, but I’m thinking about creating a few contracts with myself.
I’m thinking about signing them, and, because I can be so forgetful about agreements I’ve made with myself, hanging them on the wall of my new office instead of filing them in a drawer.
What do you do when you need to keep a promise to yourself? How do you gear up for a big move? I know I’d love to hear about it, and I’m sure others would too. Let’s get moving.
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{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
I’ve always thought it would be wonderful if there’s a moving company called “Piles”. They will come in, and take pictures all around your place, and document where everything is. Come the moving day, they will pack up all the things for you and then unpack them at the new place the exact same way it was. If there was a pile of paper next to your desk at the old place, there shall be a pile of paper next to your desk at the new place. If your favorite book is on the top of the shelf next to the entrance at the old place, your favorite book shall be on the top of the shelf next to the entrance at the new place. Since the two places have different configurations, things won’t be exactly the same. But the company should try to keep everything as similar as possible. So if you remember that the document you want is in a folder in a box behind the shoes under the bed, you can easily find it again.
This way, even though you are at the new place, you have familiar elements to ease you into the new environment. I think some people would appreciate such a moving company.
.-= Kelvin Kao´s last blog ..Why I am No Longer a Gentleman =-.
Clever, Kelvin. Very, very clever.
How do I keep promises to myself? Hmmm…I never really thought about it. But, now is as good a time as any…
I do know that as soon as I began to think of ‘me’ as important and worthy keeping my promises to myself became easier.
My journal, my vision board, my to-do lists and my blog all help me remind of the promises I’ve made to myself.
The biggest thing I think is that I want my nieces and nephews to love and respect themselves and their own dreams and promises to themselves.
They learn more by deed than words, so following through on promises made to myself is, for me, like showing them the ropes.
Make sense?
Good luck with the move…and have fun with it.
.-= Sandy Dempsey´s last blog ..JK Rowling at Harvard =-.
The challenges you highlight here are among the reasons I am waffling on putting my house on the market…right now I have everything in my home office “just so,” and the prospect of packing things up and disrupting my special “routine” really has little or no appeal at this juncture
But as we all know: “if we do what we have always done, we will get what we have always gotten…” (sigh)
.-= Idara´s last blog ..Consider it Done =-.
And I really want to make a move out of the woods into the city because I just can’t take care of the outdoors with a gig-based job. A couple more winters, and we really need to move. But you’re right, it’ll be way hard.
Best wishes! One more we never did find the blackboard eraser. Guess we really didn’t use it all that often. . . must be a poem in there somewhere.
On promises: I try to remember the feeling of accomplishment I get from living the life that I want to live. Ultimately, we’re all in control of our lives – and we can live the life we want to – but it takes commitment and follow through every single day.
Best!
Jillian
I know I’m in the minority, but I love moving and love helping people move! I’ve moved ten times in twelve years for various reasons.
And the way I gear up for it is a step that comes before packing – cleaning out! I use a move as an opportunity to clean out everything (files, closets, pantry, sock drawer), get rid of anything I no longer use but that’s still ‘usable’ (usually by giving it away), and start fresh. There’s such a wonderful feeling of possibility in a new space.
Good luck with the move Ken!
I guess I should have hired you. Maybe you should be a moving mentor.
I’m working on it:)
Hi Ken,
It stinks to move, but it’s great to “be moved”.
I’m moving as well, next month. I was so scared of the whole process of moving that it took two weeks to decide if I wanted the place after looking at it. Now that I’m into the packing and making arrangments, I’m still scared because of the expectations that might be put on me in a bigger place. For one, my husband wants to use the 2nd bedroom as a guest room. I want the 2nd bedroom for my studio! Sure, I’d like guests but I figure what’s wrong with an inflatable bed? Besides, I haven’t had room for overnight guests all my life and no one ever complained.
I’ll be looking forward to hearing, if you want to share, about how you fill your nooks and crannies.
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