Letting go or is it homesickness? (weather, move, states, years)
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We recently moved from our long time home to an entirely new place - new climate, new culture, etc. It was primarily an economic move as we were able to sell our home for a good profit and needed to move to a place with much less expensive real estate. However, after two months, I find myself feeling what I guess is homesickness. I think a lot about what we left behind - the geography, the culture, the climate, the sky, the food and all the familiar things. Things here seem alien and not up to par with what we left behind. Would love to hear that this is just part of trying something new and that with time, we will feel better about our decision. Did you move to an entirely new place and did it take some time to learn to like it?
If you block out your old area, now do you dislike the new area? Familiarity is a hard thing to letgo / overcome but maybe with a little more time you will like your new area too.
What area did you leave and where have you relocated to?
You may never feel at home in your new place. Would it be possible to use the new place as a home base, and travel? That's what I am planning to do. I moved somewhere I could afford, and it has a lot of things I really love about it, but it is also lacking in a big way regarding some things I miss about living in my old, bigger city home.
I'm thinking if there is a way I could afford to leave during the winter months to go somewhere with more to do during the winter, and live here during the summers, that might be a good compromise for me. For me, it would involve camping or RVing when I'm away from my home base, but I'm thinking that might work out.
But, I can't give you any kind of rah rah that you'll love the place you moved that was a compromise from the get go for you. There's always a reason some places are cheaper than others. It means a trade-off. So, if you find you can't stand living there year-round, maybe you can figure out how to afford to go somewhere else part of the year.
My rule of thumb is that it takes at least 3 months to adjust to a major change. You are not there yet. I moved to different States many times in the past and some moves were harder than others. For some the adjustment period was longer.
In addition to giving it some time, you also need to make a lot of effort to adjust. I am sure there were reasons for the move other than money. There must have been a lot of positive things or you would have picked somewhere else. Usually there are also a lot of hidden advantages that become apparent with time.
I don't think Christmas Eve on which you wrote your post OP nor the Christmas season surrounding weeks before and weeks after Christmas & New Years are good times to judge or measure feelings of nostalgia, loss, homesickness, levels of happiness, contentedness. The holiday season often skews everything.
A sense of loss or nostalgia for what once was or a yearning for an ideal time can permeate the holiday season for many people. Also pressure to be merry, pressure to feel some levels of joy, pressure to feel content, etc.
But even if your feelings persist into February or beyond, reading your previous posts, you could no longer as easily afford to live in Austin Texas according to your calculations before your decision to move.
Last edited by matisse12; 12-24-2016 at 10:04 PM..
We only moved less than 10 miles away, same city, but it took us more than a few months to feel at home. I think it's too soon to feel at home, give it time. I still miss my old place and still go shopping near there.
It's different for me, but I can say that it took my ex-MIL 4 years to feel at home after they moved. She missed her other home so much those first years she couldn't even talk about it.
Time will differ for each person, but it really will become home for you.
We recently moved from our long time home to an entirely new place - new climate, new culture, etc. It was primarily an economic move as we were able to sell our home for a good profit and needed to move to a place with much less expensive real estate. However, after two months, I find myself feeling what I guess is homesickness. I think a lot about what we left behind - the geography, the culture, the climate, the sky, the food and all the familiar things. Things here seem alien and not up to par with what we left behind. Would love to hear that this is just part of trying something new and that with time, we will feel better about our decision. Did you move to an entirely new place and did it take some time to learn to like it?
You will find that your homesickness will fade with time, but the length of time that it takes is entirely up to you.
Recognize that what you're feeling can be especially strong this time of year, with all of the emotions that the Christmas season awakens in us.
Rather than focus on what your new area doesn't have, change your focus to what your new area does have. Not that it in any way has to be better than the old location -- just find and learn more about the good things of your new location. Explore and learn.
Start to put down roots. Whether it's in a church/synagogue/mosque, or a local volunteer group, or a book club, or a meetup, or whatever social gathering you choose, get yourself involved in something in your new location. Social isolation only intensifies feelings of homesickness.
In short, your homesickness will fade if you choose to make it fade.
Such great advice. Thanks all! There is much to like here and the reality is we've only been here two months. Just feeling penned in by seasonal expectations and the cold weather we are not accustomed to. And a peculiar situation...the house we bought here came with a tenant until spring so we are having to rent and wait to get settled.
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