6 Tips to Minimize Nostalgia While Working Abroad

Everything is doing fine not until our employer asked us that we will be working abroad. We felt saddened and unsure if ever we will going to grab that opportunity or not. Since, aside from leaving our country, we will no longer stay with our parents anymore. Our world seems to change the moment we stepped out of the airplane. We’re seeing different kinds of faces, smiles, accents, and culture. It’s not the same as it was before and we wanted to just be that little kid, in our little room while hugging our parents because we’re afraid of the world out there. Not until reality slapped us real hard that we need to do this. We need to work not for ourselves but also for our loved ones — our parents.
1. Don’t change your habits or the things you always do back then
The things that we usually do when we’re still in the portals of our home might help us in adjusting. Take this for example, you always eat a snack 10 minutes before going to sleep, or you have the habit that might make you miss your home, don’t stop doing it. It will surely make you sad since you’re also recollecting your memories way back home. But by doing this, it will help you not to lose your not yet working abroad self.
Try having lunch at your favorite restaurant and order the food you love or buy that same pillow you had. Not because you’ve already left your country, you’ll also leave yourself there. You’re still the same person, and being what you are back then will surely make you who you should really be even if you’re now working abroad.
2. Be open with your feelings, if you ever feel sad, say it
Honesty will never betray you. If you are truthful with whatever you are going through, it’ll return back to you. Never pretend that you’re okay even though you’re actually not. The bad thing about working abroad, without someone to be with, is sometimes, you’re trying to fool your loved ones that you’re in good condition when in fact you’re not.
If your reason is so that they won’t feel troubled thinking about you, your eyes or your voice might expose whatever emotion you are hiding. Express your anger or sadness in the way you think it could help you lessen your homesickness.
3. Make sure to be connected with the persons that will keep you sane
These persons might be your parents, your circle of friends, or someone who’s special to you, talk to them. If you’re working abroad and you don’t have a phone number for international calls, don’t make it as an excuse. Social Media didn’t exist for nothing. There are at least 23 social networking sites worldwide, you can use any of them as a platform to use for communication. Our generation might probably be one of the luckiest when it comes to technological advancements, we should learn how to utilize them in a good way.
When you’re working abroad, it’s necessary to reconnect with the special people in your life. Talk to them. Tell them your whereabouts and the situations that have been bugging you. The exchanging of conversations that you will be sharing will be enough reason for you to minimize your longing.
4. Always make yourself feel at home
You are not in your own country. The place that you’re staying isn’t the place where you used to be carefree. But there are things that you might do if you wanted to feel like you’re really at home. You keep on changing the channels and you’re not really that familiar with the series being shown. You realized that if you’re in your homeland, you’ll be seeing your favorite local artists’ drama and you missed those things so much. You also missed the music being played, or the talk shows you religiously watch.
Maybe this is the time for you to have an access on your favorite television shows. Just like the old times, you’re sitting on the couch, eating your snacks while watching your favorite local artist on your television.
5. Write everything about it
If you feel like writing about it is more effective for you to be able to release the emotions you’ve been keeping, better buy your diary now. As much as you wanted to be honest about what your feelings, there are things that only you must know. You’re adventures, experiences, and the great things that happened to you each day. Here’s the catch, avoid writing about the sad and negative things while you’re working abroad. You must write only about the good things that you’ve encountered. You might ask why, because this diary will help you to stay on the track.
If you’re thinking of giving up, this diary will remind you that what you have is just a bad day, not a bad life.
6. No other options? Cry it out
This is the best option you need to do. We all know that crying is good for the soul, since it will cure whatever ails you. If you keep on holding back your tears, it’s as if you’re prohibiting yourself from being fragile once in a while. When you’re working abroad, you need to be strong but being weak is what made us human. It’s okay to feel breakable once in a while. The homesickness that we feel is sometimes just an illusion of being alone when in fact we’re not. We just feel lonely but we’re not alone. Crying your heart out will not make you vulnerable instead it will help you move forward.
Living and working abroad might be one of toughest things we do in our lives since we’ll be going to miss the things we used to do. We should create our own memory lanes — create a playlist, watch your favorite dramas, have printouts of your favorite photos — where we can go back and keep on coming back to ourselves. It might be great idea but isn’t it good to experience the same things over and over again, but the thing is, it’s not the exact feeling we had back then.
