Relocating as a Grounding Exercise

Moving is a challenging time and ranks up there amongst those life transitions that can derail people for awhile. Relocating to another city, state, or country increases those challenges and can leave you feeling ungrounded. I recently moved to a very small town from a larger city and it’s been an adjustment. Because I was already familiar with the place, and because it is small enough to get to know fairly quickly, I didn’t feel the logistical issues of being lost as much as my previous move, and I was reminded of my move from New Orleans to Asheville about seven years ago. I remember feeling so lost and unmoored and that caused tremendous anxiety. What I did was to get into my car, almost every day, choose a destination, turn the GPS on, and go. That’s how I learned the layout of Asheville, and it helped me to feel more at home more quickly, I think.

I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to feel lost, both logistically and emotionally, and these two things can go hand in hand during a major move. It’s important to sit with those feelings while simultaneously working on grounding. Holding space for those two conflicting things is difficult, but I have found that doing both is the way to feel more stabilized. Thank you, Asheville and thank you, Banner Elk for helping me with these valuable lessons. I love both of you, and I love New Orleans too. I appreciate the technology of GPS as well and it has served as a valuable tool to making these transitions just a bit easier.