Sugar Hill Community Blog

New Hampshire is known for many things other than snow. It’s the first state in the Union to host a primary in the presidential election cycle. It’s known as the Granite State. Another nickname is the "Switzerland of America" for its mountains. The state motto is “Live Free or Die” from a toast written by New Hampshire Revolutionary War hero General John Stark.

Abraham Lincoln is widely credited as saying, “It’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.” And although he never said it, it’s become an aphorism.

There are few advantages to growing older in the United States, but one of the few is taking advantage of tax breaks that favor seniors and retirees.

Many self-help books focus on how your emotions can affect your environment and your body. Emotions can affect your perception and your health.

Very few, however, describe how your environment affects your emotional health. We all have had personal experience with this effect. For some people, waiting in the dentist’s waiting room can cause such anxiety that they develop a headache or nausea. Anyone who has had a hospital stay has experienced feeling ill from the noise, glare of lights, and constant visits.

Moving is the third most traumatic event in anyone’s life, just after death and divorce. Just about everyone hates moving for the following reasons:

If you Google the words “maintain independence aging”, 9/10ths of the links lead to pages about how others can foster independence in older people.

Traditionally, Americans don’t start downsizing until the children have left home, and they’ve retired. They downsize because the house is too big for them. They downsize to save money on property taxes, insurance and utilities. They’re forced to downsize if a spouse becomes ill or injured.

With all the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, who would think of attempting to downsize? Surely not you!

But perhaps you should.

Excited about your move? Yes? Good!

Not so much? Well, you have a lot of company.

Few people like to move, whether it’s for a better opportunity or because the house is too big.

Moving is a difficult chore, but it's always resulted in a better life. All your life, you've moved to bigger houses where you've collected more stuff. Now, however, you're planning to downsize, a new term that simply means moving to a smaller home. And the thought of organizing everything you have and losing some of your stuff is overwhelming.