Catherine Arendt is the At Your Service Manager for Era Living retirement community at Aljoya Thornton Place. She hosts downsizing workshops, a helpful tool to help work through the things in our homes. When people choose an apartment at Aljoya Thornton Place in Seattle, Washington, she helps them figure out what they're going to bring to their new home.

"I always tell them, I'm not a designer, I'm a space planner," she says. "I take pictures of what they'd like to bring, and when I get back to the office I can put it on a floor plan. Just to know that those items will fit, it's a great relief to them.

"People do have all of those emotions about it. In fact, they often will delay their moves longer than maybe they really want to, simply because they're afraid. I just recently did a downsize workshop with someone from a moving company that we use all the time. After the event, one of the women came up and said that the person sitting next to her leaned over, and said to her before it started how afraid she was of this whole process. But that after we were done, she felt so much better.

"So knowledge is really power. I'm really letting them know that they're not alone, and that I'm gonna walk with them through this whole process, and that everyone is out for making this an easy process for them. And they really truly do feel that. In the end, it's such a privilege to be able to walk this path with them. And it all really starts with downsizing."

Hear more podcasts about Era Living at Answers for Elders, including conversations with residents, at Answers for Elders: https://answersforelders.com/era-living/

Learn more about:
Answers for Elders: https://answersforelders.com/welcome-to-answers-for-elders/.
Era Living's website: https://www.eraliving.com/
Aljoya Thornton Place, located at 450 NE 100th St. in Seattle, WA: http://www.eraliving.com/communities/north-seattle/

Answers for Elders is part of the SeniorResource Network: https://www.seniorresource.com/

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