Dealing with homesickness

Feeling homesick? Here's some advice on how to tackle it

Feeling homesick is something that is incredibly common at university, especially in the first few months of starting uni. It is a huge thing moving away from all your home comforts and family, not to mention navigating a brand-new city. I can assure you, the homesickness feelings soon leave, and you’ll be living your best fresher life in no time. Uni is such an exciting adventure, and first year flies by, so you want to make the most of it!

These are some of my tried and tested top tips for dealing with the waves of homesickness:

1. Establish a routine for calling/Face-timing home: It is so tempting to want to call home all the time at the start of uni, but calling all the time just makes the longing for home worse. Instead, I recommend you set up a routine and tell your family and friends from home that you’ll call them every couple of days, or once a week at a specific time. This means you will have something scheduled to look forward to, while freeing up time for you to enjoy being a fresher and exploring a brand-new city.

2. Make your room your own safe space: A blank room can make your homesickness feel a lot worse, so I recommend you decorate your room in the way you like it to make it as cosy as you can. The best way I made my room my own in first year was by putting up photos of my family and friends, bringing some of my favourite teddy bears with me and bringing a blanket from home. I even recommend bringing a room spray that you use at home, as it’ll be a familiar scent for you that will provide a lot of comfort.

3. Keep yourself busy (but honour your body and rest too): Being bored feeds homesickness. If you spend your day in bed scrolling through social media, you are more likely to be fixated on what you’re missing. So, get out of your room! You can go to the library and study, sit in a campus café, or take a walk around the Common or one of the lovely parks in Southampton. Go and be around people, as it really helps to make you feel a lot better. Even try out a society! It is such an easy way to make friends, and it gives you something to do each week with like-minded people.

4. Limit time on social media: I know from experience that homesickness for me was a lot worse when I had spent endless hours scrolling online and seeing people from home posting stuff. Even though I was loving my first semester, I felt like I was missing out on a lot, and on the days I wasn’t particularly enjoying it, it hit like a hammer and made me crave being back at home. Social media can be hard on your mental health anyway, but you need to remember that what you’re seeing is the best snippets of somebody’s life. Catch up with your friends on what they’ve been up to during the breaks and focus more on building your life here at uni.

5. Eat well and stick to a routine: It is easier said than done at uni, with how chaotic uni life can be, but your physical health directly affects your mental wellbeing, so it is so important that you look after it. Possibly try to cook something that you love to eat at home, and aim to get some fresh air every day and sleep well, as these will all help you to conquer homesickness.

Remember: It passes. Homesickness is not a sign that you made the wrong decision coming to uni or that you aren’t cut out for it. It’s a sign that you love and value the home you left behind. Give yourself grace.