We all feel excited when going to college – farewell to being controlled and overprotected! You are welcoming the independence that you’ve been craving for years. You are thinking about the rush of life on the campus, and this excitement even impacts your studies. You are actually longing to learn something new. And getting good grades has never been that interesting.
But within weeks, you start getting irritated by your college routines. You constantly feel exhausted, and your performance significantly drops. The professors and fellow students, whom you considered attractive just a few weeks ago, now seem to you beyond obnoxious. And you want to skip this and that class, and most of the time you spend wandering around the college.
Previously, you would do your paperwork on your own. Writing essays was interesting. Now you constantly order papers from online 24/7 homework help, not to go to some party, but to have an extra hour or two doing nothing. And you submit it without even bothering to check whether it corresponds to the assignment’s requirements or not!
Everything seems pointless, but you cannot pinpoint when and why it started. It looks like it jumped out of the blue. But there’s no reason to think of yourself as an unstable person and immediately Google the main symptoms of bipolar disorder. A lot of first-year students are going through the same phase, which can make you experience:
- Anxiety;
- Decreased motivation;
- Irritability;
- Loneliness; and
- A negative outlook.
If you experience those symptoms and miss anything and anyone associated with your home, you are one of the many to fall victim to homesickness. Believe it or not, around 70% of college freshmen students experience severe forms of homesickness! But knowing that the state you’re in is not unique doesn’t make it easier.
Why Do Freshmen Feel Homesick?
The reasons behind feeling homesick are pretty simple. The rapid change of your everyday routine is a stressful experience, even when you don’t realize it immediately. Adjusting to everything new is also quite tricky for the majority of people. Some may get depressed by the revelation that the actual college life is a far cry from what they have imagined.
Still, the main reason behind homesickness is being separated from home. Many freshmen complain that while college life is exciting, they feel like they are missing out on important events that happen at home, like birthdays of relatives. All that decreases their motivation makes them easily irritated and anxious.
Tips on Coping with Homesickness
Knowing that feeling homesick is expected is the first step to overcoming the distress. The main point is not to keep to yourself, as it can make you feel even more isolated. You can communicate with other students about that. Verbalizing your problem eventually leads to finding ways to solve it.
But mind that you should find someone who would cheer you up – and you must be ready to cheer them up as well! Otherwise, you will drag each other even deeper into depression. And there are other things that you can do, aside from talking.
Decorate Your Room
One of the things that make you lonely and homesick is your dorm room. Yes, you are not going to stay there forever, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t make it more or less personalized for the time being. You can get creative while doing so, and it will turn your attention away from feeling homesick.
It’s the best way to adjust to a new place. You can bring certain items from your room at home. Ask your family to send you some pictures, and hang them on the wall. This will help you feel more comfortable in your dorm room—more at home.
Engage Into Campus Activities
You need to make friends to adjust to college life. And the best way to do it is to get involved in campus life. Every college has thousands of activities, like sports teams and various clubs. Check what your college has to offer and pick something you are most interested in. It will help you find like-minded people, which will make you feel more comfortable.
Create Daily Routines
Being away from your routines can easily make you feel lost and depressed. To adjust to the new environment, freshmen need to create new daily routines. Find out what events the college and the town have to offer. Go out from time to time to get acquainted with people out of your class or college. It will make your life on campus more manageable.
Get Familiar With Surroundings
Speaking about going out, you need to get familiar with the surroundings. Go sightseeing. Learn the town your college is situated in. You can ask someone to give you a tour, or you can explore on your own. Getting familiar with the new surroundings makes you feel more at home in college. And learning new places helps create new routines.
Keep In Touch With Your Folks Reasonably
You miss your family and your old friends. And it’s pretty tempting to spend all your free time communicating with them and complaining about feeling lonely and lost. But, you can benefit from the communication. Your old friends are most likely struggling in their colleges as well. Ask them how they are coping with homesickness.
Make a schedule for communicating with your family and old friends. Call them at the end of every day. Or at the end of every week, so you will have more to tell them. But remember that your main priority is getting comfortable at your new place and not holding onto the drama of being separated from home.
Final Thoughts
These few tips can help you bear your first several weeks or months in college. Following them will allow you to avoid feeling homesick. But mind that if you tried everything, and you feel depressed and anxious, it’s better to seek professional help. Every college has counseling and psychological help resources.
