Moving On Out

I spent most of today moving into the apartment I'm subletting this summer. But I'm not actually living there until Monday -- tomorrow, I fly out to Minnesota for Jill's graduation.

I hate moving. There is little in life I hate more. I find it unbelievably stressful, to the point where (as it finally did tonight) it can make me physically ill. Finals, by comparison, were stressful too, but they didn't cause me to boot all over the front steps (sorry if that's TMI).

The problem, I think, is that moving tends to involve the confluence of several events, all of which are among my least favorite things. On face, of course, the first thing I dislike about moving is the same thing that everyone else hates about it -- it takes time and effort and is really boring. But beyond that, there are some other more personal issues. I really dislike change, for one. Kind of odd for a progressive, I know, but I'm very easily contented and once I'm settled somewhere, I really hate rocking the boat. The irony, of course, is that after a few days I quickly settle in the new place and then don't want to leave there -- but the transition is rough.

Another problem is isolation: moving cuts you off from people, and when I'm stressed I really need my friends near by for support. Even this summer, when I'm moving literally less than 10 blocks away, this applies, because most people aren't living in Chicago for the summer. Jill will be moving in with me on the 22nd, but there is still a week gap when I'm mostly alone. And finally, whenever I move I'm filled with paranoid fears that a bunch of things will go wrong. I won't be able to get the door open. The stove won't work. The pipes leak and are flooding the place. I won't be able to get the internet to work (this is actually a huge deal for me, because surfing online is my primary destress mechanism -- if I can't do that, I start to melt down really quick). All this, of course, is happening at the point when I'm most vulnerable. The anticipation of it alone is enough to induce misery.

The point being, when the key to my new apartment turns Sunday night, I really really really hope everything goes smoothly.