Welcome to the final episode of my three-part series all about the different phases of life and how specific life experiences can cause them to overlap.

In this week's episode, I talk about what happens when we lose a loved one. Specifically, I focus on losing a parent.

It's rather poignant for me that when I recorded the episode, it was 8 years to the day that my father had passed away.

Losing a loved one moves you into three phases of life

Survival

When your parent passes away, immediately you're thrust into the survival phase. You have a lot to do.

You have to plan the funeral, speak to other family members, help organize the estate, and many other things at an incredibly stressful and emotional time of your life. You're in the survival phase.

Accumulation

You will accumulate a lot of belongings from your parents.

At such an emotional time, you don't want to let go of things in haste. So I recommend finding an off-site storage unit for a certain period of time just so you can take time to decide what to keep and what to let go of.

If you're anything like me, you may find yourself trading-up many items that are actually nicer than those you already have!

Downsizing & Legacy

After about a year, you enter the downsizing and legacy phase.

The legacy phase comes first and it lasts for about 3-4 years. You start to think about what you'll keep longer term that once belonged to your parents. What do you want to be a part of their legacy?

It's all about how you're going to take the essence of the person who passed away and put it to use in a meaningful way.

I really recommend finding interesting and creative ways to keep the items that carry sentimental value to you.

For example, I have a shadow box and every time I find little things that remind me of my Dad, I put them in the shadow box in the basement.

About year 5, you're going to find yourself focusing more on downsizing.

At this time, not only will you be thinking about what you want to keep that once belonged to your parents, but you start to think about yourself, too. You start to look at YOUR belongings and think about what will be YOUR legacy.

You realize that someone has to get rid of it all someday!

I could record podcasts for weeks about how different life events, in addition to our chronological age, impact what organizational phase of life we feel like we are most in at any one moment.

My goal in recording these podcasts was not for you to be able to better categorize your phase of life, but to recognize that we are all floating between the phases at any one time and can learn and grow at our own pace and stage of life.

A special thank you to this week's podcast sponsor, the National Association of Senior Move Managers!

Last week, I introduced you to the 4 phases of life and how when you have your babies can impact upon your phase of life.

This week, I explore this topic even further and share with you how caring for family members can also affect your organizational phase of life.

Having a baby, the topic of last week's podcast, is a welcome and joyous life event. When you have a baby, you're thrust into the accumulation phase. All of those toys...food...clothes...furniture...!

This week's focus is on when you become a caretaker for a family member.

Unfortunately, when you become a caretaker of a family member, that's not such a joyous life event.

Sometimes we'll see it coming and have a gradual lead in, other times it rocks our world in an instant!

Often this will be due to medical emergencies, like when a loved one falls and breaks their hip...which I've found in recent years is a real thing and it happens A LOT!

I can share from first-hand experience that being a caretaker is EXTREMELY time consuming.

You have an immediate prioritization shift in your life.

You're thrust into having responsibility over two sets of everything...two households, two sets of bills, etc.

Whatever stage of life you were previously in, when you become a caretaker, you're also now in the survival phase, too.

In this podcast episode, I share with you some really useful ideas on how to cope if this happens to you.

I also have two super useful products that are designed to help you keep track of, and ultimately share when needed, important personal information.

One focuses on medical information (i.e., insurance, current and past prescriptions, medical history, etc.).

The other focuses on financial information, mainly for spouses to keep a joint record (i.e., bank details, etc.).

They are editable so you can fill one in for yourself, another for your parents, and I even fill the medical record out for my children. It's just so useful to keep all the information that you have in one simple record.

Next week, I look at how losing a close family member can affect your phase of life. I'm sure you can guess what phase you find yourself in when that happens!

Full blog post can be viewed at organize365.com/170

A special thank you to this week's podcast sponsor, the National Association of Senior Move Managers! 

I'm super excited to share with you my next series of 3 podcasts which are all about the different phases of life and how they overlap.

Most people are living in overlapping phases of life. I really want to address this topic and explore what it means for you.

This is something of a storytelling podcast - there's not a lot of direct action for you to take, but lots of learning!

I've actually been wanting to record this podcast series for about 9 months, but it's a topic that is best approached when the timing is just right! January is all about organizational projects, March is about decluttering... May is the perfect time to reflect!

It's all centered around what I consider to be the 4 phases of a woman's life.

The Childhood Phase (birth to around 18 years old) - Limited organizational requirements and heavily influenced by parents.

The Accumulation Phase (around 18-39 years old) - A period of learning and accumulating. You accumulate more and more belongings! Usually in this phase, you accumulate a spouse and family, too!

The Survival Phase (around 40-54 years old) - A mindset shift takes place at this stage. Most people are working during this phase and, in addition to that, they're looking after their family and running the household. And if you're anything like me, you're in your car all the time!

The Downsizing & Legacy Phase (age 55+) - The big clear out! Kids are moving out and you naturally start to reduce the amount of items in your house. You also begin to consider your legacy - what will you save and why?

There are three big life events that affect these phases of life - having children, becoming a caretaker for someone, and when someone close to you passes away.

This week's focus is on having children.

When we have kids, we go into full blown accumulation mode. Even the most minimalist of people can't resist accumulation when it comes to babies!

As more and more millennials are tending towards having children in their early 40's, what does this mean in terms of the stages in life?

Having a baby in your 40's = an overlap of the accumulation and the survival stage.

Next week, I look at how becoming a caretaker for someone can affect your phase of life.

Have a great week!