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How to Deal With Homesickness After Moving Abroad |
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The homesickness after an international move is often the hardest part of the moving process, especially if you have relocated abroad on your own.
When trying to deal with homesickness, implement the following suggestions and don't be too hard on yourself--domestic moves are difficult enough without adding the stress of moving to a new country.
Keep in touch
Moving away from friends and family may be the hardest part of moving internationally. Thankfully, it's not too hard to keep in touch.
- Stay in contact via text and phone calls if all parties have affordable international coverage
- For free connections use social media such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
- Email is also a great way to stay in each others' lives
- Skype and Google Hangout are good ways to communicate face-to-virtual-face
- Consider sending snail mail from time to time--especially when you want to put your feelings on paper
TIP: Don't rely solely on your loved ones. It's also important to make new connections after moving abroad (either at work or outside of it) to help adjust more easily to your new surroundings.
Talk to fellow expats
Another way to deal with your homesickness is to meet up with like-minded individuals and share your experiences--namely by meeting other expatriates. The easiest way to find fellow expats is through online forums who may be organizing meet ups in your area.
Make your house feel like home
Your new home will be the one constant you have after an international move, so it's important to make it feel like the retreat you can turn to for comfort.
To accomplish this seemingly impossible feat of making your new house into a home:
- Decorate with photographs of friends and family
- Put happy-making mementos on display to create positive associations
- Light comforting candles or incense
- Re-decorate the space to make it feel more like you
- Embrace daily routines which help to provide ease and normalcy
- Do something you love that makes you happy inside your new home
Integrate into the culture
To make the alien nature of your new culture less so, it's imperative that you take pro-active steps to adjust by learning about this new culture and welcoming it into your own life.
- Begin to learn the language if the native one is different from your own
- Brush up on social and work etiquette to successfully navigate daily situations
- Become familiar with native customs
- Talk to locals and other expats to get an inside and outside perspective of your new country
- Making a new friend out of this experience is even better
- Research national and local holidays
- Try the food and generally be open to new experiences
Get to know the area
As you begin to acclimate to your new culture, you should also get to know your new surroundings, as you would with any move--even ones that aren't abroad. This will help to ease you into your new area, further erasing signs of homesickness.
- Drive or take a walk in your new country to see what the area has to offer
- Take a virtual tour if throwing yourself out there sounds frightening
- Invest in a guidebook to better acclimate and get to know your surroundings
Don't create pressure
Most importantly, don't try and force your homesickness away. Instead, give yourself the opportunity to erase your sadness naturally. Time may be your only healing factor and there's nothing wrong with needing more of it than others. |
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Author : Cassandra Rose
on November 10, 2014
TopMoving.ca - Moving Expert
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