Feeling Homesick?
Feeling Homesick?
Blog Article
Homesickness can be experienced by anyone at any age. Moving to a new home, acclimating to a new job, beginning a new routine, or moving away from home are just a few examples of when this feeling can be felt. While circumstances may vary, everyone knows that feeling of loneliness, nostalgia, and heavy heart or upset stomach that accompanies it.
Young Adults Moving Away From Home for the First Time
It’s totally normal to experience homesickness when you are living on your own at college, whether you are in the residence halls or an apartment with roommates. When the pandemic hit, everyone had to hunker down and stay in their family bubbles. Now that folks are moving around freely, there may be a lingering desire to hunker down with family again if things get rough at school and students may feel very much alone in the world. Young adults today may also be in less of a hurry to move out of their family home than generations past so being away at college may pack quite a punch as working toward independence is not the driving force it once was.
Which Students are Likely to Experience Homesickness?
- Students who were super close to their high school friends, who are not at their college, are likely to miss their friendship groups acutely.
- If someone is having trouble making new friends on campus, isolation and loneliness can amp up feelings of homesickness.
- Students who are especially close to their parents or siblings may find it hard to adjust to living away from home.
- Students who may be going through tough times, like a relationship breakup or unexpectedly bad grades.
- Students who suffer from anxiety or depression symptoms.
- Particular dates might generate feelings of homesickness, such as holidays or birthdays. When family traditions take place and a student is not able to make it home, this can lead to feelings of homesickness.
- Risk Factors
- Experiencing strong feelings of unfamiliarity on campus when they first begin their studies.
- Expecting to be homesick increases the likelihood that a person will be homesick.
- Shy or more reserved people are more likely to have trouble adjusting and more likely to experience homesickness.
Tips for Managing "Moving Away" Homesickness
- Recognize it’s normal to feel homesick when you move away from the family home.
- Stay in touch with friends and family from back home, but actively seek out new friendships and connections. Join intramural teams, find an organization that matches your interests or aligns with your career goals, and give new people a chance to become friends.
- Create a daily routine that gets you out of your room and among people: going to the cafeteria, working out at the gym, or showing up to classes early and intentionally speaking with your classmates.
- If your homesickness is getting in the way of your academic success or daily routine, take advantage of on-campus support options, including the counseling center.
Solastalgia: When You're Home, but the Homescape Has Changed
There's another type of homesickness, known as solastalgia. This refers to a homesickness that arises when you are home, but the place has undergone a significant change. This typically refers to large-scale changes like natural disasters, climate change, or other changes that "erase" the homescape you once knew. Examples include towns wiped out by natural disasters, such as the recent hurricane that devastated western N.C., or it could be generated by living in a small farming community that has been turned into multi-unit housing developments. Solastalgia is the reaction to physical changes that affect our homescape and the emotional pain that accompanies the awareness of the losses.