"Once your consciousness has been raised, it cannot be lowered"

My parenting journey, our home educating family and some other stuff here and there....


Friday 11 February 2011

A moving experience (Part 1)

It's all happening!... We're set to move house at the end of the month. Our home is half packed up and in a slight state of disarray.  I'm a real home bird and love being snug and cosy, I'm trying to get used to the idea of home not being quite how I want it for a while.

I always wondered why  people talk about moving as being high up "the list" of stressful events, I've moved house at least 6 times in the last 15 years or so since I flew the nest and it's always been fine. I suppose you have to be settled to be uprooted, and perhaps I've never really been that settled before. This is the first time I've moved from a home we've owned, and the first time we've moved since having children. I'm beginning to realise why it's stressful now though, which is not to say I'm feeling stressed (well, not consciously at least).

It's not really the practical issues of packing, moving, unpacking that are taxing, though I'm not denying the effort required in this. It's the intensity of emotions that get thrown up that are harder to cope with. It would be easy to begin to be overwhelmed and not really know how to deal with that. Some examples:

Editing possessions and sorting the past. I'm finding going through Esme's artwork particularly harrowing: I can't believe the children are growing up so fast. The feelings of grief and mourning I've had have surprised me in some respects as I'm also so happy to see them growing up.

The sense of somehow, gently, disconnecting from where you are, without losing precious friends and appreciation of the place that has been home. And hoping, hoping, hoping that the new connections you wish to create will be created, and be fruitful, fulfilling, fun!

It's also challenging to family relationships, bringing up potential conflicts with many important issues: money, equality and justice, co-operation, support, respect. A minefield when your resources are already depleted by all of the above!

I can't get my head into the people who seem to change their homes motivated by "investment" or just because they fancy a change. I don't want to do this again too soon, even though (fingers and toes and everything else crossed) it's seeming fairly smooth for us right now...

I'm more than a little nervous about making a new life somewhere quite different, even though that place is "home" for me. Bonkers. I'm also quite confident this is the right thing for us to do. It feels momentous, but I also have a sense I'll look back in a few years and wonder what I was making a big deal about!

Our family is ready for the space it needs to grow and reach it's fullest potential.

5 comments:

Sue-Ann said...

Hello from sunny South Australia! yesterday we drove around some special places - where I was a little girl, where Mum and her sister were little girls, where my Nanna and her sister were little girls - and all in a landscape tht is sooooo different from Levenshulme! So a turbulence of emotions - and now I'm thinking of you moving and packing and letting go and connecting. It's so good that you pay attention to what you are doing. Hope all continues to go well. Take photos of artworks that you can't keep...

sue said...

Hi, Oh dear hope I didn't sound too creepy by saying I found your blog via The Mother lol, it was just that I was searching for a friend who follows the mother and she is also called Sarah lol.
Good Luck with the house move, I so hope we sell our soon too xx

Annie said...

Oh yay! Stressful but exciting too? I find moving a lot of work but I love making our new house into a home. We've moved a lot in the last few years and it feels good to know we're here for at least a few more years and that our next move is likely our last one for a long long while.

Well wishes to you! I hope it all goes smoothly! xx

Bessie Wills said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Bessie Wills said...

"I always wondered why people talk about moving as being high up "the list" of stressful events, I've moved house at least 6 times in the last 15 years or so since I flew the nest and it's always been fine. I suppose you have to be settled to be uprooted, and perhaps I've never really been that settled before. This is the first time I've moved from a home we've owned, and the first time we've moved since having children. I'm beginning to realise why it's stressful now though, which is not to say I'm feeling stressed (well, not consciously at least)."

I feel what you feel. haha. I think this emotional freedom technique EFT is beneficial to you. Here, i found this site http://eft.mercola.com/ about EFT and I think this is really helpful in you part ;)