Making the Change
Transitioning from living in your own home to senior living is a big task. Anyone moving, no matter their age, struggles with figuring out exactly what they need, what to do, and how to adapt to living in a new place. For seniors who have often spent the majority of their adult lives in their own home, moving into a senior living community can be a stark difference from what they’re used to.
Transitioning to senior living, like Reserve at Redrun’s senior living community in Madison Heights, doesn’t need to be a scary and overwhelming move. Taking everything one step at a time is going to be the easiest thing to do while you’re learning to live in your new home.
Are you nervous about taking the plunge into senior living, or starting to feel butterflies about your upcoming move? Here’s some of our advice to make it a little easier:
1.) Bring a touch of home with you to your new apartment.
For some seniors, they’ve lived in their homes for their entire lives. For others that are moving into a senior living community, they’re leaving the home where they lived with their loved ones, raised their children, and more. Moving away can feel a bit like losing a piece of yourself and what makes you, well, you.
It doesn’t have to be that way. When you move, bring some of the things that made your home uniquely you. That little statute on the mantle that you got as a wedding gift that everyone asks about? Bring it with you, and put it on the mantle in your new apartment! And don’t leave behind your favorite cast iron skillets and cookie sheets just because you’ll be in a senior center that has food provided. These things are a part of you. They’re part of what made your home, your home.
Just because you’re moving away and into a senior living community, doesn’t mean that you have to abandon everything you loved in your home. Bring what’s special. It’ll help make the move a little easier.
2.) Keep participating in the things that you did before you moved into the senior living community.
Were you the champion in your bridge club, or did you attend a Bible study on Sundays with the other seniors in your church? Then keep attending!
Just because you’re moving into a senior living community doesn’t mean that you can’t continue to participate in the things that you enjoyed doing outside of the home. If you still live in your community and are able to still attend the same lunches, the same church, and the same clubs, then do it! Having that sense of normalcy will really help when you’re feeling like a fish out of water in your new home.
If you’re a little too far away to attend the same clubs, then try to find one closer to your community! The senior living community in Madison Heights is sure to have at least one other person who enjoys doing the same things that you do. Join a club together, or, if there isn’t one, start one of your own! Moving doesn’t mean that you need to stop doing what you love.
3.) Make your new apartment feel familiar.
If you’re still feeling a little out of place, or the apartment in the senior community is still feeling a bit too bland, try moving around the furniture! Did you have your cozy armchair and couch placed just so in your home? See if you can get some help from the staff, your family, or even other seniors in the community to move that furniture and set it up exactly the way you had it at home.
This new layout might not be exactly the same, but having a similar layout brings on that feeling of familiarity and home. It may be enough to ease the tension in your shoulders when you walk back into your apartment to see that your new home looks just like your old one.
4.) Treat it as your home… because it is!
When you first move into a new apartment or a new home, it doesn’t quite feel right. It doesn’t feel like your home, because you haven’t spent time there, haven’t made new memories there, haven’t had people over, etc. But what’s stopping you?
You may now be living in a senior living community, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t still have friends over, invite family to stay, and more! In fact, at our senior living community in Madison Heights, we even have guest suites available for family and friends who’ve come to visit you! This is your home. You’re allowed to have parties, do activities, and embrace the things that make home truly feel somewhere special. If you’re feeling a little out of place, really embracing the senior living community as your new home may just be the ticket to really coming to understand it as your home.
Reserve at Redrun
Our luxury senior living community in Madison Heights has everything you need to truly make it feel like home. From our guest suites, to our onsite bistro, pub, and restaurants, to our games and community activities, we have all you need to feel at ease in our community here at Reserve at Redrun.
The best part? Living in a senior living community means that you get to have all of the perks of enjoying your retirement, with none of the other work that comes from living in your own home, like chores, laundry, and even cooking if that isn’t something that you enjoy. We take the things that make owning and living in your own home more difficult, so that you can truly enjoy your own time. It might not be the same as living in your own home, but with time, we truly hope you’ll come to love living in our community.If you’re interested in learning what all that Reserve at Redrun has to offer, contact us today!
