Will I ever get over being homesick?
That is a question most college students will surely relate to! It will also resonate with many adults who have moved away to a new place. My daughter, Faith, is in college, and she joins me to discuss whether or not people who move away from home ever stop feeling homesick. We dive into what it means to feel homesick, different types of homesickness, and how things change over time.
Neither Faith nor I know if it is possible to overcome feelings of homesickness fully. However, we know it is possible to get over it, figure out how to manage it, and move on when it comes up.
What does it mean to be homesick?
Even when things are going very well for her academically and socially, Faith still feels upset about her parents being far away. For her, homesickness is also about no longer having anyone else to do all the banal tasks that adults have to do.
Different types of homesickness
There are many different types of homesickness. Moving to an unfamiliar place can make some of us feel a little insecure, while others, regardless of how old they are, miss having someone to care for them when they are feeling down or anxious, or get sick.
The pandemic
Faith feels that being locked down during the pandemic took away some of the time she needed to pull away from her family after high school, make a life for herself, and learn how to solve her own problems.
Leaving part of ourselves behind
For some of us, no matter how old we are, it will always feel like we have left a piece of ourselves behind when we move to a new environment.
Things we miss about being home
It can take some time for a new place to feel like home. Sometimes, we miss just popping in to see our parents or siblings. Or we may miss getting a hug from them when something good or bad happens to us.
Where is home, and what is homesickness?
Home is where we spend our most important times and wherever our precious belongings are. Homesickness is what we feel and who and what we miss in a given moment.
Managing feelings of homesickness
Feelings of homesickness can be related to many different things. To overcome them, we must first identify what they mean to us. Then we can either replicate whatever we are missing or let go of those things and learn to accept our new situation.
I recently finished watching the TV show Shrinking and found it both fun and enjoyable! It is on Apple TV and has half the same writers as Ted Lasso. It is about three doctors working in a counseling practice who all go a bit crazy at times, break rules, and cross ethical boundaries. The cast is amazing, the characters are hilarious, and the show satisfied me to the end!
Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid is available on Amazon. Even though I am not an audiobook person, I recently listened to the audiobook version and found it very well cast and read. In fact, it was just like listening to a movie, and I loved it! The show came out while I was listening to the book, and I found that the show remains true to the essence of the book. Faith also enjoyed the book and the show for various reasons. She liked how the show was shot like a documentary and that Daisy Jones was portrayed realistically as a rock star from the 1970s. She enjoyed the music because the actors play the instruments and sing the songs. Faith also loved how the book was written as if you’re reading interviews with the band.
Faith and I had the most delicious, light, and lovely smoothies from the River Birch Cafe in Morgantown, West Virginia. If you go there, ask for the Speak To The Management smoothie!
Faith recommends buying a little tumbler cup with a straw from Big Lots for $5 for your next takeaway coffee. She loves it because it is very sparkly with lots of gemstones all over it, and it is also easy to clean!
Faith and I are both obsessive and compulsive about music! Faith recently introduced me to Tyler Childers, a musician from Kentucky who plays music with an Appalachian sound, with a similar vibe to that of Chris Stapleton. Tyler Childers’s music is beautiful and lyrical. It is more folksy than country. Faith especially loves his 2017 album, Purgatory, and his song Charleston Girl.
Links and resources:
