The Ikea Factor: How to Deal with the Stress of Moving
by Chayim Newman, M.A.
...Moving can be a stressful experience for many people. According to the Holmes and Rahe Life Stress Scale – a measure of 43 different stressful life events that may contribute to physical illness – moving may be as stressful as, or more stressful than, changing your work situation, changing schools, or taking out a loan or mortgage! I notice myself feeling frustrated, worried and even angry at times. And as I observe my thoughts during those moments of intense (and rather unproductive) emotion, I found these to be some of my irrational beliefs.
by Chayim Newman, M.A.
...Moving can be a stressful experience for many people. According to the Holmes and Rahe Life Stress Scale – a measure of 43 different stressful life events that may contribute to physical illness – moving may be as stressful as, or more stressful than, changing your work situation, changing schools, or taking out a loan or mortgage! I notice myself feeling frustrated, worried and even angry at times. And as I observe my thoughts during those moments of intense (and rather unproductive) emotion, I found these to be some of my irrational beliefs.
- “My furniture should have been delivered already. These movers are incompetent and they don’t care about me.”
- “I must be fully unpacked before I can go back to doing any work or exercise.”
- “The movers chipped the edge of my glass tabletop and that’s really terrible.”
- “I’m now finding all these problems with the co-op that I wasn’t told about before I bought it. The seller is really a dishonest and lousy person.”
