Look after yourself

Self-care is a must

How are you doing? Are you okay? Do you look after yourself? We so often ask these questions and yet, do we really listen to the other person? Probably not!

Even in a year that should have put empathy at the top of our social skills, it doesn’t seem like it. We hear some horrible stories between manager and team members. It’s heart breaking.

We need to do more to look after ourselves and practice self-care!

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It’s okay to hire help

It’s okay to hire help

What do you ask help for?

What did you do this weekend? We caught up with friends and one conversation stuck with me in particular. Our fun friend Ms M has been travelling abroad every week since she started her new role earlier in the year. She comes home for 2, if she’s lucky 4 days a week. She loves working on this project and it sounds like an amazing career opportunity. Ms M made the decision to reach out for help when she’s at home. A decision criticised by some of the friends. But why?

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Coping with stress when moving house

Make moving stress free

Over the last 2-3 weeks, we’ve been supporting a few client move. While they’ve stayed in the same city, they decided against doing it all alone. They’ve valued their time more and outsourced the stressful parts – to us (more to come in the next few weeks). We understand not everyone can afford this. Here are our top tips to keeping you sane when moving.

  1. Start early.

Often, we get stressed when we are facing tight deadlines. Give yourself ample time to prepare for your moving day. Will you make it a DIY move or will you have professional movers pack, load and unpack the boxes for you? Or will you a combination of the two, where you let professional movers carry the heavy items like furniture?

Take some time to also declutter all those pieces you no longer want, need or use. If possible, sell or donate them so someone else can enjoy them. Don’t just throw them away, like we’ve seen when college kids are vacating their dorms.

Decluttering reduces the number of boxes you’ll need and can lead to quite a bit of saving in the moving quote. For our clients, it’s also the relief of not having to take all these postponed decisions to their new home. They can start fresh without the items that have been weighing them down for months and years.

Home is where the heart is moving home stress

  1. Keep a project plan for your move.

It always seems like 100 thousands items need to be arranged. Some are dependent on others. For example, you can’t move out of an apartment until you’ve disconnect the electricity and have received the final bill.

Have a note book handy or write a list where you write down all activities with the due dates. It lets you keep track of what you need to complete without missing one. Include phone numbers, contract numbers and the name of the person you’ve spoken to. In case you’ll need to reach them again, you may be transferred to that very same person.

  1. Decide what to pack and what not.

There are some items you don’t want have packed up. Your passport, degree certificate, marriage licence and your jewellery are just a few. Medicine which you take on a daily basis needs to be carried in your luggage. One trick is to put everything you want to keep or move yourself in one room and lock it. The movers won’t mistakenly pack any of these items and you know where they are.

Knowing what is where will help you handle the mess that you’ll see when the boxes piling up. As you pack, use a box only for items from one room. This way, you’re not going to mix items from your bedroom with items. We recommend that you write on the side and on the top of the box what’s in it, e.g. “Kitchen – Pots”. It’ll make it easier should you need to open up a box and when you’re unpacking in the new home.

  1. Eat out on moving day.

Cooking causes stress on most days. Add the additional chaos in your kitchen and it may end up in complete chaos. That’s not what you need! You need simplicity for your food and drinks.

Taking your family to a restaurant for breakfast or dinner gives you some physical space to all the moving action in your home. You can treat yourself to some delicious and healthy food, giving you the feeling of being on holidays. You can also take this time to go through your project plan and create an “attack plan” for the next few hours without hearing another plate being wrapped in thin china paper.

If you haven’t budgeted for eating out during your move, consider ordering in. While you may not get away from the moving action, at least you’re removing one more stressor.

  1. Stay in a hotel.

Especially when moving across countries, moving can be extremely complex. It’s normal to be a bit anxious about an upcoming move. This stress can impact your sleep quality. You may wake up numerous times during the night or not feel rested in the morning. A night in a hotel room can help you chill and may be just what the doctor ordered.

Check out offers and discount prior to your move date. The Entertainer has options for multiple nights in hotels and during the summer, many hotels are offering special rates for UAE residences.

Peace of mind Brian Tracy moving home stress

  1. Do a fun activity.

This one is for you. This may be running or working out in the gym, reading a book in a quiet space or getting a massage to relax. This time for you will allow you to switch and focus on what you need to recharge your batteries.

If you have family, find something all of you enjoy. During this heat, it may be going to a swimming pool, jumping on a trampoline at Bounce or listening to a book reading in the library. Whatever you choose, let it be a fun activity that won’t create more stress and anxiety for you.

Over to you, what tip did we miss? What was your biggest stress relief when you moved homes? Looking forward to reading your comments below

Until next time,
Agni

Ramadan Kareem – Try something new

Ramadan Kareem Try New

Try these 3 activities this Ramadan

Ramadan, the Holy month for Muslim, has started today. During this month, local businesses reduce their working hours by 2 hours. It’s a wonderful chance to use the extra time and to try something new. If you are a non-Muslim, you may even see it as a part-time or mini-sabbatical without losing any income. Don’t miss out this great opportunity and try out these 3 activities!

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Declutter to reduce your stress

Declutter to reduce your stress

What’s the connection between clutter and stress?

Does the clutter in your home stress you out? Yes? You’re not alone! The connection between clutter and stress is a hot research topic and the results are shocking. While the famous UCLA study on clutter has been conducted in 2012, not much has changed. If we know that clutter creates anxiety and makes us feel overwhelmed, why aren’t we doing more to control the chaos in our home, office and life?

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Save your children from clutter

A clutter-free home for your children

Do you every think of the impact clutter has on your children? Do you wish your kids would ever keep their room clean? Yet, you want your kids to be kids?

Saying yes to all 3 questions is just one of the struggles our clients with children face. And because of know of this, we like to share Facebook posts that help them find the right balance for them. Last week, we posted about Dyson’s mini vacuum cleaner and never expected

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Create an emergency fund

Create an emergency fund

How an emergency fund reduces the bumps on the road

“When it rains, it pours.” Have you heard this saying? It’s referring how when something bad (or good) happens, it generally happens a couple of times. And guess what! It happened to us recently. A medical bill, a new laptop and a dead car this week. Thank goodness we had an emergency fund! Otherwise these unplanned expenses would have left us with a major bump. We want you to feel financially more secure for this unknowns and here are our tips for you to create an emergency fund.

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Get the best start into the new week

Get the best start into the week

Start the new week fresh and without any stress

It’s the start of a new week. For many, it’s also the end of the summer holiday and they’re back at work. For others, the new school year will start this week and many families are going back to a busy life. Are you one of them? If yes, this post is for you!

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Why you should get up before sunrise

Why you should get up before sunrise

See a sunrise just once

Have you ever had this? A bad dream or thoughts racing through your mind keeping you awake at night? I unfortunately experienced one of those nights recently. It sucked!

From 2 am, I was awake, finally dozed off, just to be woken up 5 minutes later. By 5 am, I’ve had it and went for a walk along the beach. My first intentional walk before sunrise!

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