For seniors moving or downsizing into a senior living community, there can be a lot to think about. If you’re helping a senior loved one or parent downsize, the right preparation can help you make the transition process as smooth as possible. In this article, you’ll find information to help you make the downsizing process a little less stressful for everyone involved.
How The Downsizing Process Affects Seniors
It can be a difficult thing for a senior loved one to downsize and leave the place they’ve called home for many years. The senior will have years’ worth of memories and experiences from that home, and there are bound to be emotional connections to physical items in the home as well as to the home itself. If you’re helping a senior downsize, it’s important to understand and respect those connections. Keep in mind that this will not be an easy process for the senior to go through. In fact, according to the Social Readjustment Rating Scale, also known as the Stress Scale, for adults over age 60, only a spouse’s death and divorce rank as more stressful than moving to a nursing or retirement home.
How Downsizing Affects Adult Children
While it’s important to realize what a senior is going through when downsizing, it is also important to consider the emotions of the person helping the senior downsize. If you’re an adult child helping your senior parent downsize or move, try to remain as objective as possible. In other words, many times adult children bring emotional baggage. More often than not, their sentiments towards an item or possession reflect those of their parents – that by losing the item, you lose the memory.
In this case, hiring a professional who can assist you and your senior loved one can be beneficial. There are many professional organizations of senior move managers and relocation specialists that are certified experts on senior downsizing. They can work with you and your senior loved one to efficiently and effectively determine what to throw away and what to keep throughout the downsizing process. They can also provide support and information to help address anxieties or stresses associated with the downsizing and moving process.
The information provided can help significantly smooth out the transition process and promote harmonious living in a retirement community. If you’re a senior in Upstate NY or an adult child with a senior loved one considering downsizing to a senior living community, consider Eddy Senior Living. Since 1928, the Eddy has been a name synonymous with the finest in senior care and services. With independent senior living, enriched housing and assisted living as well as innovative memory care facilities, the Eddy has a diverse variety of senior care and housing options. We invite you to learn more about all the Eddy has to offer.