When I am traveling, I try hard to stay present, to experience the place I am in instead of focusing on what is going on at home. Surprisingly, that is easier said than done. I have always been a person that was itching to leave home. Every time I would get back from a trip I would start planning my next one. Then why is it that when I’m away from home, I think about home even more than I do when I am actually there?
Traveling is an amazing experience. I love to see new things and to meet new people. However, all the beauty of traveling doesn’t make your relationships hide away. If you have a great relationship with you parents, you will miss them when you are gone no matter what amazing things you are witnessing. If you are in a romantic relationship, you will crave being with that person even though you are seeing new and interesting places. I think it’s because as humans, we naturally want to bond and connect with one another. We like to have friends and be surrounded by those we care about. Meeting new people and having different conversations is wonderful. But nothing will beat a good venting session with your best friend, intimate talks with your boyfriend or girlfriend or just having coffee on the couch with your mom.
Everyone experiences homesickness in different ways. For me it is not the place I miss, it is the people. Sometimes those people are not even back home, they could be living in a new place or out travelling as well. But I miss them because they remind me of the cozy familiar feeling of being home.
Many times while travelling, I will be in a place that will make me think of a friend or family member. They will cross over my mind and I will think about where they are and what they are doing. I’ll get a twinge in my stomach that tells me I’m missing them. For a while I thought that twinge was a bad thing, that I should be focusing on having fun and enjoying my travels rather than thinking of home. Now I understand that twinge as a positive representation of how lucky I am to be connected to so many people. To even HAVE people to miss when I am away is ridiculously fortunate.
So now when I miss my people from home, I accept the twinge and remember that those people would want me to be happy. And more times than not my happiness comes from travelling. My twinge of homesickness reminds me that no matter where I go I can always feel at home by thinking about my family, my friends and anyone else who is important to me. “Home” can be anywhere if I remember the people that matter.
Adventures of a Campbell 