With national quarantine guidelines in place, and travel bans and restrictions that span the globe, homesickness has sparked when you cannot make for the next reunion with your family. People across the world now find themselves struggling with how to deal with loneliness in a time when they need someone around.
Individuals may be feeling homesickness for several reasons. Our desire to go home may keep us impatient and frustrating.
“Humans beings love certainty and familiarity—especially during our current situation with sheltering at home due to COVID-19.” —Kristen Scarlett, LMHC
Research says even those who didn’t have happy childhood memories—may associate family with stability. Our feelings are valid when it comes to learning how to deal with homesickness. An excellent mental balance will help you win the battle quickly. The following are the tips on minding our minds during COVID 19.
- Manage anxiety daily
Focus on facts and reject humor. Try and distance thoughts which make you anxious. Make your schedule, work out, and sleep like a baby. Schedule your alone time from quarantine on video calls. Avoid tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs. A healthy lifestyle and balance will offer you a baseline of mental courage to deal with homesickness.
2. Schedule a video call meeting with your family
Watching your friends, families and extended family members can be really entertaining. Plan something fun for the call like games, storytelling, family karaoke. Record their reactions and make memories.
3. Re-create the memories of your childhood
Go back to your old childhood days and do a memory deep dive to recall the senses that made your childhood worth remembering.
Try to recollect what home smells like, and maybe what mom used to do when you used to see her after school. Go-all-on that nostalgia.
4. Make family recipes
Some dishes are tradition of the family and reminds you of home brunches with every bite. Get back to summer days, try your mom’s secret pancake recipe, mocktails or produce pickles with your grandma’s directions.
5. Introspect About the family
Think beyond your biological family for this one, friends who became family. Think about your first job, your first pay cheques. Surprise your friends and your colleagues. The common friends whom you met during your drunk parties. Go back and revise those memories over phone.
