With the 2023 holiday season on the horizon, some students are beginning to feel homesick.
“It was really sad for me, leaving my family behind in Columbia to come here,” said Isabella Vargas, freshman biology major. “I missed the familiarity of being home so much.”
Madison Kasper, sophomore marketing major and general manager of Mako TV, is originally from New Jersey. Kasper will be staying at NSU for Thanksgiving but plans to go back home for winter break.
“I’m a little sad because obviously I miss my family. I want to be with them, especially since they’re all going to be together for Thanksgiving, and I’m going to be out here. But I’ll see them in a week after that,” Kasper said.
Ralph E. Cash, state-licensed psychologist and professor of psychology at NSU, said feelings like Kasper’s and Vargas’s are common.
“Homesickness is a form of anxiety. It is anxiety about being away from those you love, those you care about, and from the place that you call home, where you feel safe and secure,” Cash said. “Homesickness is, most of the time, a reasonably normal reaction to being away from a safe and loving place.”
Many students and professionals have remedies that make homesickness easier to handle.
“I would recommend making new friends. It’s a pretty obvious thing to do. Go out and exercise with them, play games, go outside, workout with them. Take care of yourself and spend time with new friends at school,” Cash said. “There is a caveat with this, though. You must choose your friends wisely. If you do choose friendships that are not satisfying or with people who do not really care about you, it may make your homesickness worse.”
Kasper agrees that making friends can help with feeling homesick, as well as keeping yourself busy and not thinking about it too much.
“I like the life that I’ve created out here. As much as I’ve missed my family back home, I’ve made a lot of friends that I consider family out here. So I like the lifestyle I live out here,” Kasper said.
Staying connected with family back home helps, too, Cash said.
“Staying in touch with family and friends is another easy trick. Fortunately, we have lots of ways of doing this today, with social media, phone calls, and virtual meetings,” he said. “It is a very good idea to schedule those regularly, then you can space them further apart as you get acclimated to your situation.”
Vargas makes sure to stay connected to home.
“I try video calling with my family members back in Columbia to help. I also try to assimilate somewhat into the culture I’ve found here and spend time with my family and friends that I have here,” Vargas said.
Amelia Kaplan, freshman biology major from Columbia, also finds a cure for homesickness in video calling and talking to family back home.
“I miss my family and friends. We call and text each other often though, and that helps with the feeling,” Kaplan said.
If homesickness is not properly treated, it can cause both emotional and physical symptoms.
“It is entirely possible to get physical problems that result from inadequately prepared for and inadequately treated homesickness,” Cash said. “My first time away from home, I developed homesickness and developed torticollis, which is a tilting of the head due to tightening of muscles. I went to the doctor and it turned out, I had developed torticollis due to extreme homesickness and being so tense. So it is important you take care of yourself and not let homesickness escalate.”
While it is difficult, homesickness is manageable.
“After being here at Nova for so long, I’ve gotten used to being away,” Vargas said. “I’ve really made this school my home.”
Students struggling with mental health for any reason, can call the NSU Center for Student Counseling and Well-Being through Henderson Behavioral Health at its 24/7 hotline at 954-424-6911 or visit the center on the third floor of the Student Affairs Building.
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