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I have traveled a lot, but only lived in one state, California, for my entire life, except for the last 7 years that I have lived in Washington. This place will never feel like home...the main reason being that people here are not at all friendly. I just have to learn to adjust & accept, but it’s very, very difficult.
I've been living in NY for 5 years but it still doesn't feel like home.
It may never feel like home until you participate locally in activities and events unique to living there.
Look for opportunities to volunteer locally. It sometimes does take a long time to feel acclimated, socially and spiritually to a new community.....but the oneness is on you to find a way to do so.
I've lived in three provinces, and multiple cities and towns. I have always gotten involved in local things, explored, had local hobbies, made friends... But through life and all it entails, I ended up spending the bulk of my adult life in a place that never felt like home. Sometimes I'd forget that it didn't feel like home, until I visited places that did. I'd hit the prairies and realize I felt like I could breathe again, I'd go to the big city and not be able to stop just looking at everything. Where I lived was beautiful at times, but it just wasn't home. Five years ago I finally had a chance to move, and it's been wonderful.
Some places just don't suit some people. Lots of times it's just that someone doesn't give a new place a fair shot, but sometimes it isn't.
I lived my entire life in Illinois until we moved to Indiana last year. We're still considered to be part of the "Chicago land area" but there are still some significant differences. It took me about a year to adjust. Now I wish we had moved sooner! I think everyone is wired differently and some may adjust sooner than others. Being in a new environment takes time and you have to give it a chance.
Was born in and always felt most at home in Chicago. Lived most of my life elsewhere, though -- spent most of my childhood in the MD suburbs of DC, and it has never totally felt like home, even though there are some things about it that I reference as the way some things "should be." Every time I have lived elsewhere and gone back to Chicago, though, it always immediately felt like home. Lived in the Philadelphia area for 15 years and it never felt like home. Lived in Boston for a few years and didn't like it, as I much preferred Chicago, but have since moved back to Boston after Philadelphia and it feels much more like home than Philadelphia did. (But it still doesn't feel as much like home as Chicago.)
There are some places I've visited where, even just visiting them, I have felt comfortable and "at home," and others where I have not felt that way at all.
I lived in Southern California for 18 years. I was always "That guy from Michigan" "You Michiganders are XX" When we moved back to Michigan, I was "the guy from California" for about 5-7 years. It eventually went away and I have not heard anyone refer to me that way in many years.
I felt like I was a part of California instead of a visitor after maybe three years. I knew my way around, knew the history of my area, new the cool and not so cool places to go and visit, understood the weather (pretty easy since it does not change). 90% of the people we met were form somewhere else, so everyone was that guy or gal from ______. We adapted quickly and were soon showing newcomers how to Californ. Going back the other way, it took longer. I still struggle to be prepared for the Michigan weather roller coaster (for example, a 75 degree change from this past weekend to tomorrow).
Part of that is up to you. How quickly are you going to adapt? I pushed myself to adapt to California, but when we moved back, I clung to my California ways. It took me almost 5 years before I gave up on ever finding an appropriate time and place to wear my Hawaiian shirts. It took longer to stop saying "soda" and to start using "doorwall" instead of "sliding glass door" After five years I still knew my way around Los Angeles better than I did Detroit. Had I shed the trappings of California faster, I probably would have felt like Michigan was home once again much sooner.
I love living in Colorado, but I feel like I"m on an extended vacation from Jersey. Basically, I'm in exile. I realize now that I would never have chosen to leave if certain actions and conditions created by my parents had not made it impossible to live the life I wanted there. So I left. I miss my friends and cousins, but I am free of baggage in my new home and that is priceless.
I don't expect to ever feel fully that Colorado is my home, even though I love it here. And when I'm older, I plan to retire to my home state to be with my best friends and my cousins.
I lived in Highland, just a few blocks from Munster; my family still does. I had a real good childhood friend from Munster. Her house was so close by--a continuation of the housing development where we lived, so one part of it was Highland the other was Munster--we'd ride our bikes to each other's houses.
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I think everyone is wired differently and some may adjust sooner than others. Being in a new environment takes time and you have to give it a chance.
