Elizabeth Jackson
Maintaining positive mindsets when returning home
January 12, 2019
After living in one place for the duration of 6 months or longer, it’s just natural to form a connection to the place and bond with the people you had met. Assimilating back into the life you had before you went to study abroad can be very difficult if you’re not mentally prepared for it. It’s a huge transition moving from one place to another in this way and I found it difficult personally. I had become so accustomed to the life I had created that I didn’t put any energy or effort into preparing myself to coming back to America. Initially it was very shocking and I wish I had some guidance to help me through what I was going through at the time.
The most important and useful piece of advice I could give on the matter is to always maintain a positive mindset. It will not serve you to think in a definitive way of “I’ll never see these people again” or “I’ll never be back” because as I soon came to find, neither of those sentences were true for me and most likely will not be true for you either. In fact, I am in Australia at the moment and am already planning on going back again in a few months to live indefinitely. It’s easy to get down about leaving your study abroad country but stay positive in thinking and planning on visiting or even moving. Another useful piece of advice is to focus on what you gained from the experience rather than lamenting your departure. While it can be difficult at times because we are emotional creatures, it really helps to contemplate all of the things you have gathered from the experience.
Upon arriving back in America I found that there were a surprising amount of things that were different that I hadn’t been used to and the shock of that was pretty overwhelming at times. Being born in the US I never thought I could experience culture shock to the place I was born but it happened nonetheless. In order to cope with this I tried not to get too focused on the things I didn’t like and just focused on the parts of living in America that I had missed while I was away. There are so many simple joys of being back in the state you are from and I decided to hold onto those things rather than how much I missed Australia. Mindset is everything and circumstances are never permanent; it is up to us how we choose to see the world around us.
The most important and useful piece of advice I could give on the matter is to always maintain a positive mindset. It will not serve you to think in a definitive way of “I’ll never see these people again” or “I’ll never be back” because as I soon came to find, neither of those sentences were true for me and most likely will not be true for you either. In fact, I am in Australia at the moment and am already planning on going back again in a few months to live indefinitely. It’s easy to get down about leaving your study abroad country but stay positive in thinking and planning on visiting or even moving. Another useful piece of advice is to focus on what you gained from the experience rather than lamenting your departure. While it can be difficult at times because we are emotional creatures, it really helps to contemplate all of the things you have gathered from the experience.
Upon arriving back in America I found that there were a surprising amount of things that were different that I hadn’t been used to and the shock of that was pretty overwhelming at times. Being born in the US I never thought I could experience culture shock to the place I was born but it happened nonetheless. In order to cope with this I tried not to get too focused on the things I didn’t like and just focused on the parts of living in America that I had missed while I was away. There are so many simple joys of being back in the state you are from and I decided to hold onto those things rather than how much I missed Australia. Mindset is everything and circumstances are never permanent; it is up to us how we choose to see the world around us.
No comments:
Post a Comment