I recently began thinking about leaving home again. I am on my way to begin another college semester, but this time I won’t be coming home for five months. It’s the longest I will have ever been away, and in the midst of saying goodbye to family and friends, I decided that I couldn’t just wallow in my sadness while traveling from airport to airport on my way to school. So I compiled a list of ways to distract yourself from homesickness, as well as a few things to help tackle it head on.
Songs
1. "Rivers and Roads" by The Head and the Heart (A rough one for out-of-staters)
2. "Castle on the Hill" by Ed Sheeran (Especially if you are coming home soon)
3. "See You Again" by Wiz Khalifa ft. Charlie Puth (Written for a different context but still works)
4. "Stressed Out" by Twenty One Pilots (Pretty popular now, but always relevant lyrics)
5. "Wide Open Spaces" by The Dixie Chicks (Perfect if you are leaving for the first time)
Things to Do
1. Do not look at pictures and videos of friends and family on your phone or on media. At one time, I thought this would be helpful, and maybe sometimes it can be, but I almost guarantee it’ll bring you to tears. If you are trying to improve your mood, look away.
2. Because you will more than likely leave belongings at home, try to keep a blanket or pillow or decoration of some kind from home around. It will be familiar and comforting, but it will also give you something to look at and think about that isn’t the actual face of someone you miss.
3. This one is obvious: do something else. If it’s too hard to do homework or any other work, then watch a movie, find a book, workout, go on Pinterest or hang out with friends. The best way to ignore a negative feeling is to replace it with something positive.
There isn’t much you can do when feeling homesick, but I encourage you to try listening to some of these songs if you are feeling down or deep in thought. It’s okay to miss home, your friends and your family. It’s natural to get attached to what you are used to and then feel sad when you part from it. It means that you loved what you left and made good memories, and that’s a good reason to be sad. But stay positive fellow students (and others leaving home) because God has great things in store for you, and you wouldn’t be leaving if He didn’t want you to!
