The Psychology of Moving

Contributed by Secure-Rite Mobile Storage | February 27, 2019 in Life Fits Here

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Everybody moves. Whether it be for a relationship, employment, a lifestyle change or warmer weather.

The reasons may vary but one thing is for certain – we all move at some time or another. Regardless of the commonality, moving is stressful.

Research shows that moving is amongst the top five most stressful situations that we experience within our lifespan. It is ranked next to divorce.

A study demonstrated that when participants were primed with an imaginary moving situation, they were more likely to generate words associated with anxiety and loneliness than the control group.

So even though the reason for a move may be exciting and full of adventure, the actual process can provoke feelings of fear, loneliness and anxiety. This is partially due to a psychological phenomenon called the exposure effect.

The exposure effect is the tendency to like things that we are familiar with simply because we are familiar with them. When we move, we’re entering new and unfamiliar territories which lack the comforts of our well-known grocery stores, routes to work and coffee shops.

The effects of moving are also highly individualized and vary depending on different factors such as personality traits and moving frequency as a child. An introverted person may find moving to be more stressful, as making new connections tends to be more draining than for someone who is extroverted.

It isn’t all bad news though! Being aware of the pressures and stressors that moving can cause makes it that much easier to combat them! Below are some tips on how to do this:


With the right tools, the right help and the right mindset, a stress-free move can be achieved. Secure-Rite takes pride in helping individuals and families achieve this by offering a range of storage and moving solutions. If you’re planning a home move, we would love to help!

“Moving can be stressful at the best of times. Fortunately, Secure-Rite was able to assist and alleviate a lot of the stress with their services.  From On-Time pick-ups and drops offs as well as amazing customer service in between, Secure-Rite will be my first call in any future moving endeavors.” – Travis McKillop

Secure-Rite specializes in mobile storage, building solutions and custom design, utilizing one of the most durable structures in the world – shipping containers. We provide Western Canada with weatherproof and watertight sea cans for residential, industrial and commercial use. Whatever the need, Secure-Rite can provide simple, secure and smart solutions.

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