Tips On Moving Home From Abroad

collaborative post // You often see advice for people moving abroad to start an exciting new chapter in their life, but what about returning home? People often end up coming back home after a while for one reason or another and this is something that can be difficult and have an impact on your mental wellbeing. Read on for a few tips for moving home from abroad that should help.

Mental Health Advice

Returning home after a long period abroad can have an impact on your mental health. This is because it can feel like the end of an exciting chapter in your life and sometimes a step backwards. Additionally, people may be returning to a situation that they were trying to get away from.

When returning home, you need to take it easy on yourself and focus on the positives of being back at home. This will include spending time with loved ones (and pets!), eating your favourite foods, watching your favourite TV shows etc.

If you feel lonely when you move back, you could look to join a club or volunteer as a way to meet new people and kickstart a new chapter in your life. It is also important that you use reliable companies to take care of shipping your belongings back to you, your belongings share the memories of your past home and it will be comforting to have them in your new home.

Reverse Culture Shock

Many people also experience a kind of reverse culture shock when returning home and this can be odd. It is easy to think that you would slot right back into life at home, but everything can seem strange, different and unfamiliar for a while (especially if you have been gone a long time).

Additionally, places change over time and a lot has changed in recent times, so you might find that things are not quite how you remember them. Give it some time and you should adjust to life and feel more settled at home.

To beat this reverse culture shock, you should try to be proactive in meeting up with friends and family so that you can feel part of the community and connect with loved ones.

As above, joining groups and/or volunteering can be a great way to meet new people as well. You might also find that living in a new neighbourhood and trying to create a different lifestyle from before is helpful so that you are not trying to recreate your old life.

The advice in this post should be useful for anyone that is returning home after a long period overseas. It can be a very strange feeling returning home and it can take its toll on your mental health, but you can negate this when you know how to settle into life and connect with loved ones upon your return.