It can be challenging and disorienting to pack up your home and move.
It’s difficult to start over somewhere new…doctors, bank, grocery…. Your schedules, responsibilities, and the structure of your life together as a couple are different in a new location.
However, moving can also have blessings for your marriage before, during, and after the relocation.
Moving is an opportunity to clear out stuff that you haven’t used in a long time. You can give away the guitar gathering dust, the old blender, and the books you read long ago. You can throw away the accumulated papers that no longer have value. It’s a time to clean up and reorganize your lives– everything from files and bookcases to the arrangement of furniture. It can be a new start.
As you go through papers and memorabilia, moving also gives the gift of inviting you to review your lives.
- What have you accomplished?
- What have you learned?
- What have you experienced?
You can smile over an old anniversary card or ticket stubs from a special concert. You can run across old photos and recall the antics of your children when they were younger. Graduation certificates remind you of the hard work you put into your education.
Moving helps you to see that some of the items you have should be in someone else’s hands. Perhaps there is a friend or relative who would enjoy reliving a memory, and you choose to mail an item to one of them. Maybe a sick neighbor would be uplifted by receiving something that indicated you were thinking of him or her. A local charity could benefit from your generosity.
The process of packing is also a time to connect with friends who are willing to help you and spend time with you as well. You are reminded that these are relationships you don’t want to lose. It’s helpful to be accompanied by those you care about in this difficult task of packing, moving, and leaving.
In your new location, you may also have family, friends, or new acquaintances who are willing to help you get settled into your new home. If not, then this is a time when you can solidify your marriage by relying on each other for help.
There are many physical tasks to do—reassembly, picture hanging, furniture moving, and more. There are also moments when you can hold each other in comfort.
Big change often brings both joy and grief.
Your marriage relationship is vitally important as a grounding that is familiar and secure.