Homesickness

[Guest Guest14361]

Homesickness, it's probably affected everyone, from missing the Yorkshire Dales to a country pub to the country side and even family, what did it for you and how you got over it

[Blossom]

Christmas does it for me. Christmas here just doesn't feel like Christmas. I'm hoping now I've got my little girl that it will feel more like Christmas.

[Rachiegarlo]

In time it will Blossom as you make your own family Christmas traditions here and plan wonderful Christmases for your child and begin to look forwards rather than back.

[flossybeth]

I don't feel homesick so much as every now and then I get a real feel of the distance - things like my aunt's wedding last month (she's 76 and her new husband's 82) we just couldn't afford to go and were supposed to Skype in but the connection failed and no-one thought about us at all at the reception... or my husband's mum has moved and we haven't been for tea - that kind of thing. But then I remember that WE made the decision to leave and on the whole we enjoy life here and sometimes the distance is a good thing

 

 

ETA - Blossom you have to think that Australian Christmases are what your daughter knows as she grows so whatever you do for her will be "Christmas" and there are some great things you can do to make it feel like Christmas with them - the only thing for me at Christmas is missing people again, I actually like the summer Christmas but because our UK Christmases were all about visiting people or having people over it does feel odd just being the 5 of us. Hopefully this year my mum will be with us.

Edited March 17, 2015 by flossybeth

[Blossom]

Ohhhh yeah, I can't wait until she's bigger and can get excited. For her it will be normal, and we'll have the whole putting the tree up, writing to Father Christmas, leaving mince pies out etc. That will take over and get rid of the not feeling Christmassy, and we'll be too busy for me to feel home sick lol.

[Guest wen66]

I don't get homesick, as such. Maybe, miss the familiar, the things that make life easier but life is full of challenges, big and small.....face forward and all that. We haven't lived on the same Island as our family for 15 or so years, so the only change for us, is the time difference, oh and the fact it takes a day+ to see them instead of an hours flight. x

 

 

I do miss the fact that I can't get the fabric I want.......why do they not sell decent patterned oil cloth......

[Lazy Cow]

I get homesick. A lot.

 

I'm sick of the mess, the bills......

 

LC

 

(Seriously though, I haven't wanted to return to the UK yet, although maybe I will feel differently when I get heaps older? )

Edited March 17, 2015 by Lazy Cow

[Guest Guest75]

Tugs at your heart strings doesn't it???

 

[Blossom]

Funnily, my partner is Aussie, and has never been to the UK, but he went through a faze of 'why don't we move to England?' Lol.

[Guest Guest14361]

Tugs at your heart strings doesn't it???

 

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I was was thinking more like this

[snifter]

I was thinking about this.

 

I hanker after being able to see a certain view I know and love or a summer meadow of wild flowers but I don't consider that homesickness. It doesn't linger, its more a passing thought or happens when I see a picture posted by a friend or read a news story or some such that jogs my memory and I recall a day out to the place or some such. Its a moment in time, a memory jogged, its fine I miss the odd thing I can't buy in the shops here but its not causing me upset. Its more a joking talking point when I see friends or am out somewhere. I don't miss those things all the time, just when I have a recipe I want to make and it requires something that isn't readily available here. And I used to have thoughts like that when I lived on Exmoor about the Quantocks or about Bristol when I lived in London. When shopping in Tesco instead of Waitrose . Those sorts of things just are aren't they?

 

I don't miss my family either tbh. I lived away from them in the UK and overseas for many years so it isn't upsetting me here or distracting me from life at all. I catch up with them from time to time via Skype and its good. Sure it'd be nice to sit and have a cuppa with my Mum now and again but given I couldn't do that in the UK unless I made a 3 hour round trip, its again something I cope fine with now.

 

Homesickness to me is a very different beast and I don't suffer from that at all. We moved here and never once I have I felt homesick. Not like this, not even remotely like this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homesickness

 

I get there are some who truly struggle to settle and adapt to life in a new country, who once moved have a longing to be back where they were, who can't cope without their family or friends, who find living the other side of the world is just too much. Those who perhaps become depressed, whose mood changes, whose joy at life is slowly chipped away because they just cannot get past those things, those people I hope can find a solution and are able to make changes in whatever way to restore their happiness. It must be an awful experience and situation to find yourself in, especially if other family members settle well and are not feeling the same.

[NicF]

I don't think I've felt homesick once since I've been here. I had a bad day not that long ago when I felt really uncomfortable and out of place and like nothing was really familiar and at that point I really missed my old house and my mum and dad. I wouldn't call it homesickness though, just a longing for the really familiar. I'm pretty sure it was hormone related.

 

I don't miss the UK or anything from it at all. I actually get surprised sometimes in the English section in Coles when I spot something I haven't seen in ages. For me though it's like spotting something from my past, or like remembering something from your childhood - makes me slightly nostalgic for a minute but doesn't make me want to have it particularly.

 

I do sometimes wish I could show my parents where I live as I just know they would love it here. I miss my mum sometimes when I need advice about something and the time difference stops me from being able to call. And I sometimes miss my dad when there are things we need doing round the house that he used to help with.

[Jessica Berry]

For us it came out of nowhere at the 7 year mark! OH has loved living here from the minute he arrived and returning to the UK would be his worst nightmare. I have always felt a bit unsettled I would say, rather than homesick, each time we return from a visit to the UK, but it only lasts a few days and then I am back in the swing of things. However the last trip back to the UK at the 7 year mark, we flew back in to Adelaide on the Saturday morning and that weekend we were seriously thinking of returning to the UK, we sat and worked things out and realised how easy it would be to sell up and return. We rang my parents and said we were thinking of coming back. My Dad (who is a real chatterbox like me!) was speechless at first and then said "I never thought we would be having this conversation, I don't know what to say" quite frankly I think my parents thought we had lost the plot ha ha!!! We now refer to it as the 'weekend of madness'! After a few days, we were back to normal and back in the swing of things like it was a distant dream.

 

It was actually quite an interesting, if slightly bizarre experience, especially for the OH as it came out of absolutely nowhere and completely and utterly took him by surprise.

[Anne B]

I don't feel 'homesick' as such but on balance I prefer living in England. I would move back to England tomorrow if it was easy (kids schooling/jobs/finances are keeping us here). I don't hate it here, I really like some things, but I don't think it will ever be 'home'. I just want to be rich enough to live 6 months of the year in each country!!!