Home is where your life began, where you learned how to walk, how to be yourself, and how to stand up. You learned how to love at home. Staying away from home fro too long makes you nostalgic, makes you miss all you once were a part of. What you are feeling is homesickness. Homesickness is more than a lack of family or home. It’s feeling out of place with longing toward home. It has all to do with attachment. 

“Homesick was defined as a response to grief; similar to the loss of a loved one, but what the individual grieves is the loss of the familiar location. It is linked to insomnia, appetite issues, concentration difficulties, anxiety and depression,” Ricks Warren, an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Michigan.

Homesickness is an ever-present prevalent feeling. Wherever you go, it can be felt -- whether you are traveling for education, for job or even for a holiday. But ultimately home is where your heart is, and wherever you are, you definitely come back home.

The first time I left my house was for three months. Those three months were one of my life’s toughest days. I missed everything. I wanted to return back my home right away. I bet everyone gets that feeling, especially when you’re desperately craving that home-cooked dal bhat with homemade pickle. 

According to the 2018 Open Doors Report number of Nepali students studying in the U.S. rose by 14.3 percent over the previous year. This is just the data of Nepali students studying in the U.S. We can only imagine how many people are traveling outside Nepal for employment or other reasons. 

Research at the UCLA Higher Education Institute revealed that more than 30 percent of college students experience homesickness at low levels. And serious homesickness is experienced by about 69 percent of first year college learners. Although homesickness is a common emotional feeling, anxiety and depression can have similar impacts. It is definitely depressing to have the lonely sensation of not understanding anyone, yet having to live with them.

Homesickness can be overcome to a large extent by understanding that these feelings are temporary and will soon go away. It also helps to engage with individuals around you. Think about what it would be like if things were already better. Bottling up emotion will only make it harder to deal with homesickness. A more effective means of overcoming homesickness is to open up. 
Notwithstanding all the measures and tactics that can be used to overcome homesickness, we can never have the same atmosphere as home once outside. But we can certainly adjust our lifestyle and learn to live with less homesickness in a new environment.