While working with clients in their bedroom, I shared that my husband and I switch sides of the bed weekly. Though Tony and Trish were initially uneasy about switching sides, they realized their reasons for who slept where had NOTHING to do with their current house. Two apartments ago Trish needed to be closest to the bathroom. Now her side is furthest from the bathroom. Once they saw that there was no backing behind their sides — and agreed that Tony wasn’t going to change — it was easy to experiment with switching sides permanently.
Added benefits to anyone switching sides on a regular basis:
• Alternating sides is great for your mattress.
Personal benefits to switching sides:
• Switching sides makes me keep my bedside items to a minimum (one book, one pair of reading glasses, one box of tissues). My husband moves the alarm clock to his side and that is the end of the swap.
• Our kids know to bother the parent closest to the door in case of an emergency so neither of us gets taxed too often.
• We have the privilege of working with many families after the loss of a spouse. One difficulty that many face is dealing with personal artifacts left on the other spouse’s side of the bed. While we handle these situations very sensitively, I often return home from an organizing session with relief that I will not have to suffer that hardship when, God forbid, I am faced with loss.
What would the benefits be for you?