How to overcome homesickness
Most of the people are going to leave home once it’s time to study at university. Moving away for university is such a big life transition, a totally new chapter in our life. The surroundings and people around will be totally new and strange for us. At this time, we can just stay in a strange space, read the family group chat, wishing we were there with them too, crying in the bed, hoping we can have a good night in our old bed. Suffering from homesickness is definitely a problem that every student has gone through. However, it has a natural reaction and is a very normal part of human experience. To help you put yourself together in these times of despair, here are some ways that had helped me overcome that period.
Missing our family is the most suffering moment. Especially when we cannot celebrate certain special festival with them, we might feel sorry for missing in some part of their memory. Therefore, the first step of overcoming homesickness has always kept in touch with family. Nowadays, we can face time our family by just clicking a button within a second. Therefore, call your family and update your experiences with them. This can make the distance feel a lot shorter. Nevertheless, we should balance our life by not always only interact with family all the time. Besides, bring along some home comforts with you. Whether it’s your favorite teddy bear or blanket that you used to hug every night, all these can cheer us up and ease the shock of a new environment.
Stepping out our comfort zone might be difficult, but we have to do so. Making new friends in university will help you a lot in alleviating loneliness. Everyone is far away from home, so only friends can help us immediately once we face difficulty. Next, exploring the new surroundings. Being in unfamiliar surrounding will always make us lose so it’s definitely a good idea for us to explore our university town to make us feel not that strange. Try hanging out with friends during weekends. We might discover something interesting together such a nice place for relaxing and trying new food. All these make you feel familiar and comfort with the new place. Staying with friends is always the best side of university life. We should catch this opportunity to create sweet memories. In short, it distracts us from feeling homesick.
Furthermore, stay busy. Instead of wasting time to isolate ourselves to miss home, we should think how can we make time become useful. Keep learning! This is why we leave our home and it’s been what our parents expect us to do. Thus, always make yourself organized, work hard. However, other than studying, we can also join clubs, volunteer activities or involve in any activities that can cheer us up. It will be even better if we can use the free time to learn other things that we are interested in. Always remember that we should maintain a positive outlook and keep that motivation.
Next, maintain a balance life. Eat, move, sleep, and in the proper amounts. Balanced life can make us feel better all the day. University is not easy. Assignments’ deadlines, heavy homework load might stress us up. Nevertheless, no matter how busy we are dealing with academic, it is extremely important to get some rest. Therefore, our body and mind can function well. In addition, exercise is also a way to keep our mind clear and release stress. It can relax and refresh our mind and chase the stress away. Keeping healthy will keep us feeling much more positive about life. Clear mind and energized body will optimize our productivity.
Lastly, plan a date in advance to visit home. It can make us feel more motivated to focus to do out tasks faster. It makes us having something to look forward to. But remember, it is okay to miss home. It is nothing bad about homesick as long as you can handle it smartly and wisely.