Helping a Friend Deal with Homesickness

Good friends are available during times of trial. Sometimes, just a listening ear is all that is required to help put the problem into perspective. Friends all have their own difficulties that they periodically go through. One of those problems is homesickness. It can afflict people who are from another state or another country and it can hit the hardest during the first year of the move.

Homesickness is not a rational feeling or one that can be easily explained. It can manifest itself in the most bizarre ways. For example, your friend may have moved into a beautiful new home, in a low crime town where residents are pleasant and friendly, amidst a backdrop of mountains, lakes and streams. As you see it, this is a picture perfect existence. But as far as your friend is concerned, this is the worst place they have ever lived and the local customs irk them. Why? It is because this new town in a new state or country is not home. That is what can make the life of your friend so troublesome.

Offering Sympathy

One of the best things that you can do to help your friend is to offer impartial sympathy. By impartial sympathy, I mean listening without becoming offended or offering a "solution." It is easy to become offended when your friend lists every aspect of their new home that they do not like. But a good friend will look beyond that and see that they do not really "hate" where they live. It is usually symptomatic of a deep feeling of loneliness and a longing for their familiar surroundings.

Cook Up a Feast from Home

If your friend is from another country, it would be an act of great kindness for you to cook a meal for your friend and invite them round. Just the sight of the food will help to put a smile back on your friend's face again as they sit down to eat with you. Food is a very visual reminder of home and can really help to some degree.

Don't Say "I Know How You Feel" Unless You Have Been in that Position