I’ve said it many times – I’m not really homesick but I am definitely people sick.
3,000kms is far.
Like really, really far.
I don’t regret this move. It’s been great for me professionally. It has been great for our marriage. It has even been great for Sugar Plum who is getting dance and performance opportunities that she wouldn’t have had back in our small-ish city of 400,000 people.
But if you’re wondering how long it takes for homesick to set in then I’m telling you, based on experience, it’s about a year.
We left September 28, 2011.
I swore I’d never go back.
And now it’s easy to forget or dismiss all the reasons why you left.
That doesn’t mean I’m packing my bags and heading home… but it does mean that our next move – one filled with visions of international destinations – is on hold. Indefinitely.
A year ago you couldn’t keep my feet firmly planted in a single location. A year later, I am seriously considering the value of roots – the deeply embedded kind.
My father would tell you this means I’m maturing or something along those lines. Maybe he’s right, I don’t know.
What I do know is that I am learning what it takes and what I need to be the best version of myself.
I still don’t have all the answers, but I’m working on them.
It all takes time. Time to miss people, time to forget why you left, time to settle in, time to get comfortable. And there are no easy answers. All you can do is give yourself the time and space to think through each change, and try to remember what moved your heart to action the first time. And find comfort in people who are becoming familiar and things that start to feel like home. Aim to get more of them in your days until it all feels good. xo
Jen – Has anyone ever told you how smart you are??? Must be all that coffee
About 2 years into our last posting I really missed home. I was begging to be sent back home. I am now home and surprisingly it is not what I thought it would be to be back home. I sometimes find myself wishing to go back to where we live before. However 1.5 years into being back home I am finding our circle of friends and am starting to feel more at peace here.
Nolie – I’m not sure I want to pack up and go home but I haven’t ever really considered feeling displaced there too if I did. One more thing to think about…
It took me 5 years… HUGS!!!! oxoxoxoxoxoxo
Shash – 5 years to get over being home sick or 5 years until you felt homesick?
it was after the 5 year mark that my neighbour, who I had coffee with almost every day, noticed I’d stopped talking about BC as “home”. it was about then that I felt settled in Ontario.
I still miss my family, that’s for sure, but whenever I go back to BC, I no longer pine to move back there… like I did in the first 5 years
I have never been far from home so can’t speak to that ache. But I can tell you I have the dream to pick up and see what it would be like to start afresh, with my family, in some warmer and sweet place. I guess it is a good thing for all of us that home is where the heart is:) Hugs
Yes Steph! Warmer would be AMAZING! Although I had a chance for a sunny snow free destination and decided against it. Since we’re entering the coldest part of our winter I may seriously start to regret that!