Which way do you think is the most effective to deal with homesickness Do activities or eat foods that remind you of home Maintain contact with people from home Make new friends Try activities and foods that are special to the place you are in

It cannot be denied that with the rapid speed of globalization, an unprecedentedly large group of population is now studying and working thousands of miles away from hometown, which leads some people to generate the opinion that a deep immersion into a new environment is the best way to tackle emotional difficulties associated with adapting to a new place, such as homesickness. Nevertheless, as far as effectiveness, health, and social relationship are concerned, such opinion needs to be scrutinized meticulously before a conclusion can be reached.

First of all, while participating in “new” local activities, tasting “new” local food, and making new friends could relieve our homesickness, these actions do not eradicate roots of emotional difficulties – for instance, the conflict between a set of value that we used to hold and that held by people in the new environment. While the hospitality of the new world could teach us a whole new way of how to look at things, with good food satiating us and new friends distracting us from negative emotions temporarily, the question “why they don’t agree with me?” always lingers on our mind; at this time, it is an active connection with the “old” world that keeps reminding us of the intrinsic elements that have been with us since an early age, and it is the eventual reconciliation between the old and new elements that eliminates the seeds of more emotional difficulties.

Second, from the aspect of long-term mental health, we ought to explore the new world while still keep a solid connection with where we are from. For example, it is not uncommon to discover “self-haters” in immigrants – those who attempt to completely deny their cultural and ethnic roots, praising everything in the new world they live in, and might even look down on other immigrants with similar cultural backgrounds. Ironically, these are actually the group that encounter tremendous challenges in facing themselves: A survey conducted by the Economists in 2017 in England, UK reveals a positive correlation between the extent to which new immigrants praise on newly-implemented local policies and the extent of negative emotions related with adapting to a new environment, such as anxiety, lack of confidence, and depression.

A voice arises that a high-level of familiarity with the new environment, such as local sports, religion, food, and culture is essential to our being accepted in an organization such as a new school or company. However, while there is no deny that such a familiarity boosts the development of social relationship in the new world, the awareness of the benefit of diversity has been increasing dramatically globally – on the college campus, in a corporate office, or in a local neighborhood. We all look forward to the generation of groundbreaking innovations from diversity, and at the same time, checking out various cuisines in the community we live in.

In conclusion, therefore, being “same” and “different” seems to be equally important for individuals in this highly mobile world. We ought to maintain the tie with where we are from and, in the meantime, explore the new world we are in.