Do you ever struggle with homesickness?

I feel fortunate that I am very close with my family. But living far away means we don’t see each other that often, and I go through bouts of homesickness.

This past week, I was particularly missing my family. 

So I started thinking about different steps I can take to practice self-care. 

I want to share these tips to help you comfort yourself when feeling homesick.

Self-Care Tips for When You Feel Homesick

🤍Cook a nostalgic comfort meal

I love cooking a meal my mom would prepare while I was growing up to bring me some comfort. 

This doesn’t have to be anything fancy. Something as simple as preparing roasted potatoes the way she taught me (with just a drizzle of olive oil, salt, and pepper) makes me feel close to her.

It always amazes me how flavors and scents can hold so much emotion.

What meals remind you of home? Share your favorite comfort meals in a comment!

🤍Recreate family traditions

Similar to recreating meals, I love recreating small family traditions. Something as simple as taking on my mom’s habit of applying cuticle oil at night makes me feel close to her! Even when we are far apart.

Other small habits, such as reading, make me feel connected to my parents. I know how much they love reading and I feel happy taking after them.

🤍Call/FaceTime loved ones

Thanks to technology, we can stay connected, despite physical distance. Plan regular catch-ups with your family and friends to help you maintain a sense of closeness.

For example, I love FaceTiming my parents often. Exchanging stories and updates makes me happy and helps me alleviate homesickness.

How to Stay Connected with Long-Distance Loved Ones

In addition to your phone’s call/text/video chat features, these are some additional tools to help you stay connected to long-distance loved ones.

📲Zoom

📲Google Meet

📲Whatsapp (for international communication)

🤍Seek support around you

It helps to have a good group of friends to lean on. A solid support system can uplift you and help you feel the sense of love and connection you crave.

Meetup is a great resource for finding a local community. This app allows you to discover local events and connect with people who share similar interests. Meetup is how I found my lovely group of friends!

🤍Practice gratitude

Practicing gratitude for the blessings in your life is so helpful for staying positive and getting through tough times. 

Practicing gratitude doesn’t mean you have to be happy all the time! But I highly recommend getting into the habit of identifying things to feel grateful for. My gratitude practice helps me maintain a positive mindset, which can pick me up when I feel down.

Read this blog post to learn how to practice gratitude through gratitude journaling.

🤍Keep your mind busy to avoid spiraling

Throw yourself into activities that bring you joy. 

I’m a huge fan of “positive distractions” to relax your mind.

Positive distractions: anything that occupies your mind and distracts you from uncomfortable emotions.

These are some of the positive distractions that help me when I’m not feeling great:

All of these activities calm my mind and bring joy to my life, which really helps me feel better when I’m feeling homesick.

🩷Crafts

🩷Reading

🩷Listening to Podcasts

🩷Watching Movies/TV Shows

🩷Spending time with friends

I hope these tips help you manage homesickness. Thanks so much for reading and for being part of my wellness/self-improvement community! 

Do you have your own tips for dealing with homesickness? Leave a comment below to inspire others!

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Featured Image: Photo by Timothy Buck on Unsplash