SARASOTA, Fla. – Many people move to Florida for the beautiful beaches, culture and the amazing weather. So why are so many Floridians stressed out?
“I am one giant stress ball, all the time.” Alex Krumm is busy selling homes. His wife is also in real estate, and they recently had their third child. “It's easy for me to deal with it, you just disconnect, and just separate work from family life.”
As a broker associate of Remax Alliance Group in Sarasota, he says many people move to Florida's west coast seeking a different lifestyle.
But how stressful is house hunting? “That can be very stressful, especially in a climate like this.”
Sellers were anxious from losing homes, now buyers are stressed. “What’s really stressful for a lot of buyers is they have to go out there and present multiple offers on multiple homes, often over list price, just to be competitive.”
He says buying a home isn’t the only stress. “Moving is harder than anybody anticipates it being; not enough stuff fits in your boxes, you never have enough of them, and it takes much longer than people expect it to be.”
Home buying and moving aren’t the only causes of stress.
“The things that cause us stress, chronic and pretty continuous stress, are things like having enough money to pay the bills, finding a job.” The Sarasota Mindfulness Institute, where Nancy Saum is an instructor, offers a stress reduction course. “They come because they have anxiety, and that anxiety can come from many different sources.”
Bodywork practitioner Donna Waks says a couple of things can cause tremendous stress. “Losing a spouse, or one spouse getting ill.”
Many of her clients are elderly. “Stress is one of those things like pain, that crosses over mind and body, and spirit.”
Stress apparently also crosses over state lines. “The Suncoast experience is a human experience, like it is for everyone in the country, and the world.”
Even Krumm admits he experiences it. “Well I was just talking to my wife last night about how stressed out my life is.”
