Hi everyone! I’m so excited to introduce Ryan of Ryality for this week’s post! Today she will be sharing some awesome tips on how to cope with homesickness in college that I wish I knew my freshman year! I’m sure you will find many useful tips here. If you enjoy what she has to say you can check out her blog and her Instagram.
Now that spring break is over, it’s about that time of year where college students everywhere are sick of being in school and are ready to go home for the summer. Homesickness is a thing that a lot of college students experience, and it can be a really hard thing to overcome. So, today I decided to share with you the best ways that I have been able to stop feeling so homesick.
I’ve definitely had my share of homesickness since I’ve been in college. I’m one of the only people from my high school’s graduating class who went to college out of state, so all of my friends from high school still hang out, but I’m four hours away. It can be really easy to start to feel out of the loop and left out when you see your family and friends getting used to life without you. Sometimes it can make you want to leave school and just go running back home. Homesickness affects more college students than you would think.
However, throughout the year I’ve had to learn to cope with my homesickness so that I can enjoy myself at school, and here are some of the things that have really helped me to manage my feelings of homesickness.
Keep Things From Home In Your Dorm Room
One of the biggest reasons that people get homesick is because they aren’t familiar/comfortable with their environment. I mean, you leave home and move into this foreign place, how could you not get homesick? One of the things that I’ve found helps the most is having familiar things surrounding me in my dorm room. I constantly keep things like blankets, pillows, and décor from home around me at all times. It helps me feel like I have a piece of home with me, and if I’m having a day where I feel particularly homesick, I just snuggle up in the blankets and pillows that smell like my house and I feel a lot better.
Hang Out With Your Friends At School
Another thing to do is to hang out with your friends at school. If you’re feeling homesick, the worse thing that you can do is to withdraw from people and seclude yourself. It’s important to keep hanging out with your friends and keep them in the loop about how you’re feeling so that they can potentially help you feel better.
Make Your Room As Homey & Cozy As Possible
Make your dorm room your space! Fill it up with soft blankets and pillows, a nice fluffy rug, cute décor, and whatever will make you feel the most at home. You’re less likely to feel homesick if you have an area that you feel comfortable in while you’re at school.
FaceTime/Call Home If You Need To
I personally don’t know what I would do if I couldn’t FaceTime my sister all of the time. I’ve read some articles that say that calling your family isn’t always the best idea if you’re homesick, but in my personal experience it just helps me to feel a lot more connected and in the loop with all that is happening at home. Knowing what is going on with my family and friends helps me to feel a lot better. Just make sure that you find a healthy balance between keeping in contact with your friends/ family at home and your friends at school.
Stay Involved To Combat Homesickness
Being a part of something can give you a sense of belonging at school, which can help with homesickness. Like I said earlier, it can be tempting to withdraw when you’re homesick. It isn’t a good idea to cut yourself off from things because that will only make it worse. Stay involved in clubs, programs, friend groups, or whatever you’re a part of while you’re at school and you will feel much better.
Practice Self-Care
If you’re feeling down, it is always important to take care of yourself. Practicing self-care can help you to feel better about your circumstances and can get you back to feeling in control. If you’re interested in learning more about how to practice self-care in college, click here!
It is so important to be able to manage feeling of homesickness while you’re at school so that you can have the best college experience. I hope these tips helped you with that! If you liked this post and would like to check out some more of Ryan’s blog posts about how to deal with college life, you can click here!
