Sukhu Lise - The art of happy moving: how to declutter, pack, and start over while maintaining your sanity and finding happiness

Contents

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THE ART OF HAPPY MOVING . Copyright 2019 by Alexandra Wenzke. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

Cover design by Mumtaz Mustafa

Cover illustrations by Lise Sukhu

Illustrations by Lise Sukhu

FIRST EDITION

Digital Edition MAY 2019 ISBN: 978-0-06-286975-3

Version 04092019

Print ISBN: 978-0-06-286973-9

To Victoria, Joseph, and Charlotte,

you are my happiness.

To Daniel,

you are my everything.

Contents

Moving at any timeand especially with kidsis one of Dantes official circles of hell. Its true. It gets lost in translation, but if you look at the original Inferno version it reads:

Following the ninth circle of hell,

therein lies the most terrible place of all.

Tis where one must pack up her entire life

while keeping the house so clean for showings

that no one would ever imagine

rambunctious children with hordes of toys

sprawled everywhere moments before.

Its more lyrical in Italian.

Ive been there. Many times, in fact. My husband, Dan, and I moved ten times in eleven years and added three kids into the mix along the way. Sure, moving is a challenge, but its also doable. This book will show you not only how to survive a move, but how to make the most of it.

Of course, Happy Moving doesnt mean youll skip and whistle as you pack your boxes. Happy Moving means remembering to laugh because, sometimes, thats all you can do. It means maximizing the highs and minimizing the lows. Most important, Happy Moving means finding ways to be better off after the move than you were before.

Im not going to lie. Moving does include some rough patches. The time Dan and I moved from Ohio to California springs to mind. We had decided to tow our Honda Passport behind a U-Haul truck, cinching a canvas cover over the top (we didnt want to scrape 2,500 miles of bugs off the windshield when we arrived in Palo Alto). It was a genius innovation. We exchanged high fives and knowing looks and put that truck into gear. Killing it.

About a mile and a half onto the highway, Dan noticed that the U-Haul seemed unstable. Was a crosswind hitting the trucks side? Was there a storm coming in?

Not a cloud in the sky.

Passing cars honked at us, but as far as we were concerned we were still killing it. I mean, come on, peoplemoving trucks are bound to be slow. Just go around! Finally, a guy in a Toyota Camry pulled alongside and rolled down his window. Unable to yell over the roar of the open road, he pointed to our trailer and shook his head, eyes wide, then zoomed away.

Dan checked the side mirror. The Honda on its trailer swerved in and out of view.

Swerved in and out of view?! Within seconds, the tail jerked the front of the truck, whipping us across the highway like a gigantic, hungry cobra. I gripped the door handle as we careened to the shoulder, and somehow we managed not to flip over our U-Haul in the middle of I-80.

We learned something that day: a canvas car cover makes an impressive parachute.

Throughout this book, Ill reveal even more poor choices we made while moving. Maybe you, and the thirty-five million other people who move in the United States every year, can save yourselves from these types ofahemgenius innovations.

The average American moves 11.7 times in a lifetime, so youve probably racked up a crazy story or two of your own. Hopefully youve had your share of Happy Moving moments, too, like the time we bought a town house over coffee and muffins (without any real estate agents involved). Still, my favorite stories are the absurd ones, absurd in the way only moving can be. Maybe you battled a biblical plague of grasshoppers while passing through Iowa like we did. No? Just us?

Moving means you get to create unforgettable memories, and it also means you get the chance to start over so you can live an even happier life. According to happiness researchers and psychologists, 50 percent of our happiness is genetic. So, worst case scenario, you were born 50 percent grumpy. I can work with that. Another 10 percent of our happiness comes from our life circumstances, and since youre reading this book, your life circumstances might be a bit stressful at the moment. I can help you out. Moving logistics, packing and decluttering, making sure your favorite pet doesnt get lost... well cover it all, a little at a time.

The final 40 percent of the happiness pie is how you look at the worldyour attitude and your personal outlook, and how they influence your actions. This is where well work on the happily-ever-after part, something thatll stick around long after your move. Ill guide you through what researchers say you need to be happier and what things dont matter that much. Well focus on ways to be happier at home and outside the home. Well talk about how to make friends and get connected to your community, because social relations are important. Its hard to be happy without at least one good one. Ill give you tips and strategies for how to build your community when you start from scratch.

Its time to pull out my 5-Step Road Map to Happy Moving. Here we go.

STEP 1: CHANGE YOUR MINDSET

People say moving is one of lifes most stressful events, but it doesnt have to be. Lets rebrand it and focus on the fresh start. Movingeven if its down the blockis the perfect time to start over and make changes in your life. A positive attitude and an altered outlook on moving itself will help.

STEP 2: SET GOALS

When you start over, you can be anyone you want to be, and the good news is that the laws of habit formation are on your side. As well discuss in , more than one-third of people who made lasting habit changes attributed their success to moving somewhere new. Thats a mind-blowing head start, and you dont need to do one extra thing. Simply proceed with your move. This is a chance to restart your life, and those dont come around every day. Well cover goal-setting and moving resolutions later in the book because youve got some moving to do and you may be short on time.