Is your Family Ready for a Sea Change?

You’ve got a wonderful vision of how great life will be when you make your sea change. Your career, where and how you’ll be living have all been worked out and you can’t wait to make the move.

But wait – how does your family feel about it all? Given how much their lives will change, are they as keen as you are?

Significant career and lifestyle changes can be unsettling for everyone. Such a major change can make or break your most important family relationships.

If your sea or tree change impacts your partner, spouse, children, parents or siblings, it will be easier and more successful if they are making the change for their own reasons.

Take this quiz to check in on your families’ needs, feelings and beliefs. It provides a timely reminder that your sea change impacts others in different ways and knowing the answers will help everyone adapt more easily to your new life.

TRUE
FALSE
1. I’m clear about what each member of my family needs and wants from our sea change.
2. I’ve sat down and really listened to how they feel about it.
3. I know their biggest concerns and worries and we’re finding ways to work through them together
4. I know what impact our sea change is likely to have on each member of my family.
5. I know what my Top 3 priorities are and why they’re so important
6. Each member of my family has articulated their wishes and expectations and we all know where we may need to compromise.
7. I’ve involved everyone who will be directly impacted by our sea change.
8. I know what’s important to my family and am helping them find positive ways to manage the things they will miss about our current lifestyle.
9. I’m helping my family identify opportunities to pursue their own interests and hobbies, make friends and settle easily into our new life.
10. I’m committed to nurturing my relationships with those who are important to me.
11. I genuinely respect each member of my families’ right to have their own individual feelings about our sea change.
12. I know how to help my family make the change easily.
13. I’m making time to involve my family in all the tasks and decisions, even if I think I can do it better or quicker myself!
14. Our sea change is definitely a shared dream where everyone’s happiness is taken into account.
15. The timing of our sea change will work well for each member of my family (e.g. before the start of school term)
16. My family is genuinely excited and optimistic about our Sea Change

Add up the number of times you Selected TRUE

How did you go?

If you answered ‘True’ to most of these questions, congratulations! You are well on the way to ensuring your sea change is successful for all your family. Involve each family member in the decision making and relocation tasks and find out what else they need to adjust easily to your new lifestyle.

If you answered ‘False’ to any of these questions, take time to understand and address their reservations and concerns. Tap into what’s important to each family member based on their age, interests, fears and expectations. The ease with which they adjust will depend on how well supported they feel.

Need some help?

Here at Possibility to Reality we’ve helped many different families make successful sea changes and have developed simple ways to ensure everyone in your family is ready for your change. To find out how to help your family be ‘sea change ready’, contact us today.