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America is a nation on the move. Every year, over 15 million of us pack up our lives in bags, boxes, and bundles, and move on down the road. In a lifetime, the average American will move up to 12 times. After expending so many miles of packing tape and bales of bubble wrap, you’d think we’d all be master relocators. But the truth is, most of us find moving an exercise in contained chaos that stirs a broad range of emotions: excitement, hope, fear, anxiety, and even depression. In fact, moving is classified as the third most stressful life event, just after death of a loved one, and divorce. How do you fit all that in a box?

There are two major kinds of stress related to moving. One is the logistical nightmare of packing your hoard of possessions in time for moving day. The other is the anxiety connected to leaving everyone and everything you have known (even moving to a neighboring town can be profoundly unsettling). To help you get a handle on unpacking your emotions while packing up your stuff, we’ve assembled some mindful hacks to make moving a little easier.

1. List all the good things about moving
When we’re facing unknowns, our minds tend to fill in the blanks—often with worst-case scenarios. Psychologists refer to this as catastrophizing. It can be a real buzzkill that saps your energy. When that happens, take a deep breath and visualize the good things that will come from moving. Maybe the kids will be close to a good school. Or your new community’s downtown is packed with great restaurants and shops. There are great hiking and biking trails nearby. Your new home has a deck and an outdoor hot tub! Whatever it is, be sure to write it all down. Studies show that the act of writing is a sensory experience that opens your brain to learning. You literally become more receptive to the ideas you write about. In this way, you begin replacing some of that negative dread with eager anticipation.

2. Tame worry with planning and action

Every move comes with tons of stuff that needs to be done, from transferring the mail and lining up a moving company to activating the utilities and finding new healthcare providers. Left untended, highly solvable problems become a tangled mass of worries that plague your sleep. As the list gets longer, the anxiety grows bigger, dragging you in a downward spiral. You can break the cycle by taming the beast with your pen (or spreadsheet). Write down every challenge, consider what you need to tackle it, and then prioritize the order for dealing with it. For example, lining up a moving company to synch with your moving date is a top priority. By contrast, finding a new orthodontist for your daughter can probably wait until you’re settling into your new home. Once you have a timeline of tasks with all the steps required to complete them, you can knock off a few items a day while staying on track for moving day.

3. Schedule some down time

Sometimes you can do more by doing less. It might seem counterintuitive, but the frantic churn of endless tasks can leave you spinning your wheels. When your nervous system is overwhelmed by stress and worry, you enter a state therapists call “emotional flooding.” In a constant state of flight-or-fight, it becomes difficult to focus and perform efficiently. You crash and burn and feel so exhausted all you want to do is grab a pint of Ben & Jerry’s and sit in a dark room in front of the TV.

And that might not be a bad idea. In fact, taking some downtime is key to replenishing your energy and super-packing powers. Block out an hour a day for doing nothing. Whether you go for a walk or run, do a little yoga, or just take a nap, the key is to break from go-mode to be-mode. For deeper relaxation, add some meditation to your session. Even 15 minutes can revitalize your spirits and refill your energy stores. If you’re a beginner, there are numerous apps that provide quick guided meditations. These include Insight Timer, Calm, Headspace and many others.

4. Conquer the clutter

Congratulations! You survived moving day! Somewhere in all those boxes is everything you need to make this house a home. Make it a top priority to unpack and put everything where it belongs ASAP. Clutter is chaos. The sight of all those crumpled newspapers, bubble wrap, and stacks of books and other possessions littering the floor creates stress and anxiety. A team of neuroscience researchers at Princeton University found that people living in cluttered environments feel constantly frustrated and find it difficult to focus. Add in the stress of moving to a new town, city or state, and your overall mental health and wellbeing can deteriorate. The key is to tackle one room at a time. Work deliberately but be patient with the process and celebrate each little win. Be sure to factor in downtime and reward yourself by exploring your new community.

5. Be here now

Moving is tough. Even if you’re now the proud owner of a dream home in a town you’ve always wanted to live in, moving can still make a serious dent in your happiness. After relocating, it’s natural to feel overwhelmed, exhausted, and disoriented. Especially if you moved across the state or country. Your friends are far away, and all your familiar reference points are gone, from your favorite coffee shop to your best hiking trails. It can be profoundly unsettling. That’s why those who have recently moved often reach for the comfort of texts and tele-calls with distant friends and relatives. They cocoon themselves with screens, surfing the web and binge-watching films and TV shows. This fuels a downward spiral of loneliness and even depression. Perhaps that’s why studies conducted in the UK, Australia, and Finland have one big thing in common: moving doesn’t usually make anyone happier.

At least, not at first. The key to shaking off those moving-truck blues is as close as your new front door. Open it and walk out into your community. Go try some of those tempting pastries you saw in a shop window downtown. Check out those awesome mountain-bike trails on the bluffs by the river. Meet some new people by joining a club: hiking, bird watching, photography, quilting—whatever you’re into, there are likely a lot of other locals who enjoy that activity, too. The key is to live fully where you are now. You’ll always have cherished memories of your old home, but moving is an opportunity to make some wonderful new ones with friends you haven’t met yet.