Discover 5 Effective Ways to Relax and Unwind: A Guide to Self-Care

Are you feeling the need to relax but unsure which relaxation method suits you best? Let’s explore some of my favorite techniques which can help you unwind and rejuvenate. Choose the one that resonates with you the most, and embark on a journey of self-care.


  1. Mindful Breathing: Embrace the Power of Conscious Respiration – Have you tried mindful breathing to ease stress and promote relaxation? Unlike our usual unconscious breathing, mindful breathing requires intentional focus. Find a comfortable spot, sit down, and inhale deeply through your nose, allowing your belly to expand. Exhale slowly through your mouth, emptying your belly. Concentrate on the rhythmic flow of air through your body. Practicing this mindful breathing technique at least three times a day can significantly reduce stress. You can do it anywhere, anytime – just take a minute for deep, conscious breathing, and feel the relaxation take over.

  1. Meditation: Embracing Mindfulness for Inner Peace – Discover the simplicity of mindfulness meditation to care for your mind and well-being. Close your eyes and concentrate on the sensation of air entering and leaving your nostrils. Stay focused, redirecting your attention to your breath if your mind wanders. Meditation doesn’t have to be complicated – even a few minutes can make a difference. For those who love technology, there are meditation apps that guide and support your journey. Incorporate short meditation sessions to your day to experience a profound sense of tranquility.

  1. Massage: Unlock Serenity and Well-Being – Tension can melt away with a soothing massage, providing a sense of serenity and relaxation. If you can’t access a professional massage, consider massage devices for targeted relief on your neck, feet, back, or head. From massage chairs to eye masks, various tools are available to help you unwind. Try simple solutions like rolling tennis balls under your feet for a DIY reflexology session. Reclaim your calm and bid farewell to stress.

  1. Yoga and Pilates: Nurturing Physical and Mental Health – Explore the combined benefits of Yoga and Pilates for both physical and mental well-being. While Yoga emphasizes the mind-body connection, Pilates engages your muscles deeply. Whether you prefer the meditative flow of Yoga or the dynamic exercises of Pilates, these disciplines contribute to overall health. Incorporate these practices into your routine to enhance relaxation and build resilience against life’s challenges.

  1. Aromatherapy: Elevate Your Mood with Aromatic Bliss – Harness the power of aromatherapy by using plant essences to promote relaxation. Essential oil diffusers can atomize oils, creating a calming atmosphere. Some favorite relaxation oils include Lavender, Neroli, Marjoram, Grapefruit, Mandarin, and Scots Pine. Each oil brings its unique properties, from sedative and calming effects to stress relief and emotional balance. Experiment with these scents to find the perfect aromatic escape that suits your relaxation needs.

These are my top relaxation methods, each offering a unique path to tranquility. Choose the one that resonates with you or mix and match to create your personalized self-care routine. Remember, taking care of yourself is a powerful step towards a more relaxed and balanced life. Share your favorite relaxation method or discover new ones to enhance your well-being!

Thank you for reading! Please sign up for my blog crisbiecoach so you don’t miss out on any posts!

How Creative Visualization Will Help You Achieve Your Goals

Do you find your ambitious life goals confined to your thoughts rather than materializing in reality? Creative visualization might be the missing link to transforming your aspirations into tangible achievements. In this blog post, I’ll explore the power of creative visualization and how it can help you manifest your dreams.

What is Creative Visualization?

Creative visualization is a potent technique that leverages imagination to shape your desired life. The fundamental principle is that your mind can actively influence your reality by nurturing it with the right mental images. When you intentionally visualize and feel your future successes, you plant the seeds that can sprout into reality.

Creative Visualization embodies three core principles:

  1. Clarity: The more vivid and detailed your mental images, the more impactful your visualization becomes. Clarity in your mind’s eye is key to manifesting your goals.
  2. Emotion: Infusing your visualizations with intense positive emotions enhances their effectiveness. Feeling success in your imagination strengthens the connection between your mind and body.
  3. Belief: A profound belief in the possibility of achieving your goals is crucial. Your mental state profoundly influences the outcomes, and unwavering belief supports the manifestation process.

Mind-Body Connection in Visualization

Creative visualization is grounded in the concept of the interconnectedness of the mind and body. When you vividly imagine your desired outcomes, your brain activates neural pathways as if you were experiencing them. This process triggers physiological responses, reinforcing the mind-body connection.

Achieve Your Goals with Creative Visualization

Clarify Your Goals: Visualization helps define your goals precisely, enabling you to identify your true desires.

Boost Motivation: Vivid mental imagery stirs emotions and motivates action towards your goals.

Overcome Obstacles: Anticipate and mentally prepare for challenges through visualization, enhancing your ability to overcome obstacles.

Grow Confidence: Repeated visualization of success builds self-confidence and a robust belief in your capabilities.

Attract Opportunities: Positive energy generated through creative visualization can attract opportunities and resources into your life.

Better Focus: Visualization sharpens focus, aiding in maintaining clarity and persistence when pursuing your dreams.

Incorporating creative visualization into your daily routine can be a transformative tool for manifesting your dreams. By understanding and applying the core principles, you empower yourself to clarify goals, boost motivation, overcome obstacles, grow confidence, attract opportunities, and maintain better focus on your journey towards success.

Are you ready to embrace the power of creative visualization?

How to Keep Your Resolutions

Today is the first of January and many of us have decided about their resolutions for 2023, or are about to do so. The new year brings the desire for a change, the need for renewal. We would like to spend more time with our family, to take that trip that we have been dreaming about for so long, to change our job, to enrol in a gym club, to lose weight, to stop smoking…the main goal is feeling better with ourselves and with others.

Why does it happen then that along the way we forget about our resolutions or we abandon them?

Here are some questions you should ask yourself.

Are your resolutions too ambitious, vague or simply they are too many? In this case you are putting too much pressure on yourself. If you have decided to stop smoking or to lose 10 kilos, you must ask yourself why you have started smoking and why you are always hungry. Are they ways for relieving the daily tensions?

Are you positive in comparison to the achievement of your resolutions? If you think that you will never make it, it is sure that you will never make it. Henry Ford used to say: “If you believe you can make it or if you believe you cannot make it, you will always be right”.

Are your resolutions appealing? You have decided to lose weight or to stop smoking. As such, they are great objectives. But find a bigger reason for which you want to achieve these objectives. For instance, you want to stop smoking to be able to recover breath faster when you go jogging or you want to lose weight to put on those beautiful pants that suited you very well.

Bad habits are difficult to lose, above all you need time. If you have been sticking to them for years, you have your good reasons (to protect yourself from stress, for example). You cannot change your habits in some weeks. Some time ago, studies stated that you could take up a new habit in 21 days. Now, neuroscience has found out that you need at least 60 days! Take your time then, establish a new habit with calmness, don’t stretch your body too far, your body is comfortably used to the old habit and it doesn’t feel like changing it. You must make it understand, day after day, that another way is possible and it is also healthier!

Besides, remember that the path won’t always be linear and you may find obstacles. There will be some easy moments and some difficult ones but losing a battle doesn’t mean losing the war. Accept the ups and downs: your body will learn to adapt slowly.

Choose an objective that won’t sound like an obligation, in the sense that it must represent a real choice, a thing that you want to do, not that you must do. Control your thoughts, remember what Henry Ford said. Don’t focus on what you still have to achieve, but celebrate what you have already achieved. List the small victories and congratulate yourself. Stay positive!

Think about the strength that a seed has to become grass. It must come out from the soil to be able to live and flourish. It works slowly under the soil, up to when one day it comes out and sees the light! For you it is kind of the same thing. Work slowly and one day you will see the results, because you are stronger than you think.

And now four tips:

1. set one objective at the time, but define it well, use the SMART model (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time bound). Even though this model has been created for organisations, it may be helpful also to individuals engaged in goal setting.

2. Adopt the strategy of small steps by dividing your objective into smaller objectives.

3. Celebrate achievements: the first kilo you have lost, the first whole day without smoking. Put some post-it all over your place with your success on it. Tell yourself “Well done!”.

4. Inform your family and friends about your goals and ask them to help you with this. Getting their support will help you in achieving the results. Look for some groups on Facebook that share your same goals, and participate in forums on the Internet. Remember that you are not alone, there are other thousands of people that may have your same goals and exchanging ideas with them can be helpful to you. You can create a blog that can become your journal (a journal on paper is also okay).

I wish you a successful 2023!

Photo by Cristiana Branchini

What Is the Meaning of Resilience?

What is the meaning of resilience?

Let’s see the meaning of the word as it is found on the Merriam-Webster:

resilience

1 : the capability of a strained body to recover its size and shape after deformation caused especially by compressive stress

2 : an ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change

After witnessing or being a victim of a traumatic event, such as a terrorist attack, war, flood, fire, the loss of a dear relative or friend, an ordeal may begin for people. In the months following the event, people find themselves silent, stunned, they review the same terrifying images and feel unable to return to a normal life. Yet, after a relatively short time, one year for example, more than 50% of these people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) feel better.  Some individuals possess amazing abilities to overcome difficulties and return to their original, or even mentally stronger, state. This process can be defined as “resilience“.

Why are there people who are more resilient than others?

In some cases resilience is partly innate. The concentration of cortisol (the stress hormone) drops faster. It is estimated that 85% of the population has genetic predispositions to defend themselves from traumas. Another determining factor is the healthy environment in which they grew up. Emotional security during early childhood provides better self-esteem and helps to better overcome difficulties. 

In addition, the support of family and friends is also crucial. Some studies on the state of memory after traumatic events revealed that when survivors were left on their own, the chances of reacting with resilience were lower, while when they were well surrounded, they had a good chance of overcoming the situation they were facing.

So how could you help the victims?  

You could reassure them, speak to them with affection, as you would do with a child. In fact, just like children, survivors can no longer manage their emotions, and sometimes they can’t even speak! By protecting them, the stress generated by the traumatic event will gradually be reduced.

A first level of psychological help can be given by establishing a relationship with the person involved by actively listening to them.

Then, you shall assess the needs of this person and establish priority.

However, for a real psychological support it is important to contact a professional, who will be able to give a proper psychological first aid (PFA) and decide on the follow-up to help people regain their vision of the world and ultimately their life.

Have you ever witnessed a traumatic event or helped any victims of traumatic events? How did you react?

Would you like to know more on overcoming stress? Have a look here!

Photo by Sharon Wright on Unsplash

How to Improve the Quality of Your Life with Relaxation Techniques

As you may know relaxation techniques are simple practices you can do to help yourself calm down, cope with stressful situations, and relieve stress. The warning signs are out there: headaches, stomach knots, and racing thoughts. They are all signalling you to take action. The good news is that you can. The resources are here. They can also help you fall asleep, and go to sleep (or back to sleep) faster. 

Try out the different tips and techniques listed here and see what works best for you.

1. One Hour to Let Go

This technique allows you to finish your daily tasks and help you get ready for sleep an hour before bedtime. This exercise is done in three 20-minute sessions.

  • In the first 20 minutes, take care of any simple tasks, for instance preparing the dishwasher or feeding your cat.
  • In the second 20 minutes, do some relaxing activities like talking with family members, doing an additional relaxation technique, or thanking for three things that have happened in your day. Avoid scrolling on your phone though, as the blue light on your screen can inhibit your natural melatonin production and make it harder for you to fall asleep.
  • In the last 20 minutes, take care of your personal hygiene. Take a warm bath or shower.

Creating consistent and healthy rituals is really a good way to getting a good night’s sleep each night.

2. Guided Visualisation

Guided Visualisation uses your imagination to engage your senses. This simple exercise can be done on your own, or with the help of a therapist or a guided imagery practitioner. Here are some questions you can ask yourself:

  • What can you see? Look close and far, colours, shapes, and light.
  • What can you hear? Hear as many sounds as you can and keep looking for new ones, don’t focus on anyone for too long.
  • What can you taste? This is less fun as you are not eating, but try to imagine yourself eating something you love.
  • What can you smell? Focus on the smells around you – what are they and how many can you find?
  • What can you feel? Send your attention to the parts of your body that have contact with something, like the floor or a chair or table.

Through this technique, you can connect your conscious mind to your unconscious mind and help direct your body and brain towards a desired goal response. Guided imagery helps you relieve stress, reduce feelings of anxiety, and encourage healthy sleep.

fashion people woman relaxation
Photo by PNW Production on Pexels.com

3. Self-Hypnosis. If you are only familiar with hypnosis that you might have seen on films, forget about it. Hypnosis is a state of consciousness where someone is intensely focused on an idea, which can make their brain more receptive to new thoughts or ideas. If you want to try it, there are apps or tutorials on YouTube available.

4. Breathing Exercises

You probably know that a deep breath can help you stabilize your breath when you are anxious or worry about something deeply. A breathing exercise can help encourage relaxation, reduce muscle tension, and even lower your heart rate and blood pressure. Repeat this as many times as you need. By practising deep breathing, you reproduce your breathing patterns as you fall asleep. In doing so, you encourage your body to enter that state of restfulness and get itself ready for sleep.

5. Progressive Relaxation

This technique allows you to become more familiar with your body and any of the places you may be holding onto stress or tension.

Progressive relaxation involves working with your body in different areas and each muscle group, first by tensing the muscles and then relaxing them. Usually you start with your feet and go your way up to the top of the head. In this way you will be aware of how the parts of your body feel when they are tense, as well as when they are relaxed. You can use this technique to address any tension or stress you may have.

6. Yoga Nidra

Yoga Nidra is also known as yogic sleep. It helps the body relax while the mind is alert and awake. The goal is to guide yourself through the main four stages of brain wave activity— beta, alpha, theta, and delta— and achieve a state of being between wakefulness and sleep.

To practice Yoga Nidra, all you need is a comfortable place to lie down. Begin then by lying face-up and set an intention for that session, for example stress relief or relaxation. Watch your body and notice any tension or sensations you feel. You can always find apps or tutorial on the Internet to guide you through this practice.

One study has shown that Yoga Nidra can be a very effective supplemental treatment for insomnia. In participants practicing Yoga Nidra, regular participation improved their sleep quality and reduced their insomnia severity, anxiety symptoms and their stress levels. This improvement even continued 3 months after they began practising.

Remember not to practice any of these relaxation techniques while operating machinery, driving a car, or doing anything that requires your full attention.

Have you ever heard of any of these techniques before?

photo of woman laying on ground
Photo by Natalie on Pexels.com

How and Why to Prevent a Recurring Thought from Turning into an Obsession.

You have thought – and rethought – if you locked the door when you went out? Are you on the street and you wonder if you turned off the light; or the gas? This is not as serious as it looks like. Moreover, you are not the only person it happens to. The thoughts that come to your mind are normal; they are not obsessions … yet.

Thoughts don’t turn into obsession overnight. At first, they are imperceptible, then they grow, but they don’t seem so serious to you; when you start having problems at work, in the family, with friends, you may have developed an obsession. Recognizing the degree of frequency and intensity is crucial to avoid that one of your recurring thoughts starts to be harmful.

If you don’t get major problems in your daily life, you can let your recurring thoughts flow and unlock them with relaxation techniques, and by becoming aware of their cause.

Imagine a grandmother lighting a candle in the Church so that her grandson succeeds the exam. Or the songs you hum in your brain and can’t get rid of them. Or the cultures that pray to get some rain. They are examples of small obsessions that do not harm anyone or give problems in everyday life. Therefore, in similar cases, you do not need to take actions.

However, there are other kinds of thoughts that trap the mind in a vicious circuit and catch your attention very often. They are called OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder).

There are some tricks you can use to keep them under control.

Let’s see some of them.

Photo by Claudio Schwarz on Unsplash

If, for example, you wash your hands too often, try to actually count how many times you’ve washed them. Then, think about the absurdity of doing it so often because washing your hands well once should be enough, and doing it twice should reassure you that they are really clean.

If your fear is to get infected on the public transport, because you touch knobs, bars, doors, use gloves every time you take them or take a hydro-alcoholic gel with you to be used as soon as you get off (very useful also during Covid times).

The important thing is to be able to rationalize your recurring thoughts and find solutions to control them. If you really cannot manage to do it, however, you should consult a professional (doctor, psychologist, coach) who can help you keep your thoughts from becoming obsessions.

Also be aware that genetics can be a cause of your recurring thoughts. If you are very emotional and have difficulty controlling your impulses, you are somewhat predisposed. Exposure to obsessive models in the family, which transmit the values ​​of order, norms, not making mistakes, can also be a cause. Highly demanding, perfectionist, rigid, excessively ordered, inflexible and reluctant to delegate tasks personalities are also more prone to developing OCD.

Recurring thoughts are normal until they become fixations. In addition, remember that most of the things that worry us never happen. Try to notice it and let me know.

Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

10 Ideas For Spending Your Holidays At Home.

In this period of mobility restrictions caused by the pandemic, the time when we could travel freely seems a long ago. Last year for Easter, I had planned a trip to Berlin and I would not have expected to cancel it. This year too, I would have liked to leave for the Easter break, but the virus is still among us and it is better to stay where we are.

Covid has changed many aspects of our life and going on vacation is one of them. It is obvious that going on vacation is very important for physical and mental health. You should think about taking rest periods even without being able to travel.

When we work we look forward to the weekend but it is not long enough to fully recharge ourselves. To be able to really disconnect from work we need more time.

Holidays are a period of time that we need, we need it as well as sleep, eat, drink, in short, they are a necessity. If we want to stay healthy, we have to take vacations.

Waiting for the pandemic to pass and then taking a long vacation is not a good idea. It is better to take shorter vacations but more often.

Of course, we cannot travel now, it is strongly discouraged, but this does not mean that a period of rest at home or close to your place, depending on what you can do in the country where you live, will do some good. Holidays allow us to recover and when we come back, we often feel better, full of energy and even more creative.

Photo by Wee Lee on Unsplash

It does not matter where you go on vacation. The main thing is that you can rest and put aside your daily worries. Choose what to do, with whom and when to do it. Not everyone likes travelling. Some like to have time to read more, do more physical activity, spend time outdoors. Others like to take small hikes, without straying too far from home. Some people enjoy long trips, some other like only short ones.

With the health crisis, many of us had their vacations at home. Let us see the positive aspects of it: definitely less pollution, you saved some money and also the stress of travelling.

However, there are people who do not like being at home. They do not know what to do, they get bored, they do not want to tidy up the house (but for this one could call someone to help), and the children (when they are there) need care and attention. They have to think about many things, as if they were working. On the other hand, they may simply want to change air and get to know new places, or return to places they have loved before.

If, however, you are forced to stay at home due to travel restrictions, take some days off and try to take advantage of your free time anyway, as doing so will make you feel better. Moreover, think that the pandemic will be hopefully over soon.

If you find yourself in the position of having to stay at home during your holidays, try these tips:

1. Don’t read professional emails;

2. Do little housework;

3. Establish rules and times for being at the computer or television (both for you and your children, if you have any);

4. Look for new places to discover in your neighbourhood;

5. Spend time in nature because nature is a source of energy;

6. Make a list of what you would normally do on vacation, eliminating the things you cannot do due to anti-Covid rules. For example, in Belgium, where I live, you can ride a bike, but you cannot go to a restaurant;

7. Organize a movie marathon with friends and discuss with them to find out which ones you all liked the most;

8. You can do the same thing with a book. Choose with your friends a book you all would like to read. When finished, you gather together (on-line if not possible a real gathering together) to comment on it;

9. Why do not you sign up for an online course to learn new things? There are many possibilities even for free!

10. Indulge yourself with little vices: buy some chocolate (soon it will be Easter, the best moment to buy it), a good bottle of wine, or have a three-course meal delivered.

What kind of vacation do you like? Do you prefer to travel far away or stay closer?

Photo by Emma Simpson on Unsplash

How To Use the Pareto’s Principle

Towards the end of the 19th century, a group of economists from the University of Lausanne in Switzerland studied the social inequalities in Europe. Analysing the tax data of several European countries, they found out that in each of them about 20% of the population owned 80% of the wealth.

This discovery was a real springboard for the career of an economist, Vilfredo Pareto, who gave his name to a principle, the Pareto principle, also known as the law of 20-80.

Some examples of the application of this principle:

• to optimize production, some industries in Japan focus on 20% of the causes that generate 80% of production problems;

• customer services of most companies focus on 20% of customers who generate 80% of turnover;

• finance professionals agree that 20% of their investments represent 80% of the benefits.

What does this principle make us understand? The message of Pareto’s principle is that we need to focus on 20% of the actions that lead us to 80% of the results.

Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash

In practice, we must focus on high value-added actions because they are the ones that make us move forward.

This principle is very important because it deals with a precious resource: time.

To avoid being stuck on a goal and slowly losing sight of it, it would be beneficial to use this perspective (20-80).

However, how can we identify what are the essential things to our goal? Moreover, how to choose high valuable actions?

Try to answer these two questions for each action you have planned but are hesitating to take:

1. Is this action vital in moving me towards my goal?

2. Am I the only one who can do this action?

The first question allows you to separate essential actions from those that can wait.

The second allows you to identify what are the actions that others can do in your place and that, therefore, you can delegate.

Once this is done, you will know 20% of the actions you need to take to advance towards achieving your goal.

Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash

Now you could estimate the time required for each action but it is not ideal, because you would end up putting it on your “to-do-list” and you could continue to shift the priority order. Therefore, in the end you would have wasted some time.

Once again you have to ask yourself some questions:

1. What problems are stopping you from really moving forward with your goals?

2. What do you need to do to solve these problems?

3. What are the elements that allow you to understand if the problems have been solved?

You will be surprised to see how well these questions work. The 20-80 rule allows you to focus on actions that have a visible and direct impact. You will see that they will soon become a habit to you, and that you will use them every time you feel stuck with something.

Do you think that the Pareto’s principle is useful for progressing with your goals?

Photo by Lindsay Henwood on Unsplash

How to Overcome Difficulties with the Ganbatte

The Japanese people have an incredible ability to recover from catastrophes of any kind. After World War II that left the country in ruins, in just thirty years Japan became the second largest economy in the world, becoming leaders in the electronics sector in the eighties and nineties. How could the Japanese economic miracle happen? The answer has to do with an expression that we should use too: “ganbatte” which means “try your best”.

Here lies one of the differences between the fragility of the Western culture and the resilience of Japanese culture: how they deal with crisis’ situations.

In Japan, when they have to take an exam, they say “Ganbatte kudasai“, which is the best way to tell others to do their best. In this case, there is no external factor on which the outcome of your exam depends on. According to the Japanese, if you try your best, you will get a result, which even if not the best ever, it will be the best for you, because it represents your maximum effort.

Another Japanese saying, also very useful to all of us, is: “if you want to warm a rock, sit over it for a hundred years”, which means that to overcome great difficulties you need to be patient. However, this doesn’t mean sitting down and waiting for circumstances to change, it means actually working to create new situations and opportunities.

The “ganbatte” is present in the individual and collective activities of the Japanese, and it is very much linked to the Ikigai, that is simply the priority around which everything else (often unconsciously) turns.

In 1995, when the disastrous earthquake happened in Kobe causing enormous damages, the slogan that circulated in Japan was: Ganbaro Kobe. The meaning of the message was: strength and courage from all of us; united and with efforts we will get out of this situation.

Later on, in 2011, on the occasion of another great earthquake that caused the nuclear catastrophe in Fukushima, the slogan that encouraged all Japanese was: Ganbaru Nippon! This encouraged all Japanese to join in the collective effort to help all those involved in the catastrophe. A collective effort was required, and this spirit manifested heroically when retired workers from the nuclear power plant, volunteered to control it. The reason presented by those people was that it was better for the radiation to affect people who had already lived a good part of their lives rather than young people with a future ahead.

A good lesson for all of us in these difficult times. We could try to do as the Japanese do by following these four practical tips.

  1. Do and not complain. Don’t complain with your arms crossed: do something. Value your actions, even if they seem of little importance to you, in reality everything you do is important. As the Kaizen philosophy says, modest but continuous progress ends up in a great transformation.
  2. Hope instead of despair. An attitude of hope focused on day after day rather than on “when this will end” helps to keep morale high.
  3. Don’t waste energy. Don’t venture into endless arguments, which get you nowhere. It is necessary to keep all your strengths (mental and physical) to keep moving forward.
  4. Seek the company of enthusiastic people. We are friends by affinity. This does not, however, exclude that we can surround ourselves with people with a ganbatte spirit, who strive to improve rather than seeing only the negative side.

Do you think ganbatte can help you with facing difficult situations?

Photo by Clément Falize on Unsplah

People Living Together

Lille, 2018, Yolande, an 85-year-old lady, lives alone. She has children and grandchildren but they live far from her. Yolande does not like living alone and she needs some help with her daily life.

At the same time, Sandrine, a young single mother who has resumed her studies as a nurse, is looking for an accommodation for her and her daughter. But rents are expensive.

Photo by Joshua Newton on Unsplash

Sifting through ads on the Internet, Sandrine sees a much lower offer than the market average. She does not know yet, but it is the announcement that Yolande made.

Thanks to an association, Yolande puts in the market her house in a so called “intergenerational and supportive rent”. With this new type of contract, a single person over 60 can share their place with someone under 30.

The renter benefits from a much lower rent than the market average. In return, they undertake to live with the elderly person and help them with their daily life.

This type of cohabitation is encouraged by the French state which even enforced it in law in 2018. The aim is to help young people find affordable housing, and making older people less lonely.

Sandrine then moves with her daughter to Yolande’s place and they recreate a real little family. Sandrine helps Yolande with the grocery shopping and cleaning the house, while Yolande sometimes looks after the little child and even picks her up from school. By doing so, she feels like a young grandmother again!

What do you think about living together with an elderly?

Photo by Elaine Casap