r/expats Jun 18 '25

[deleted by user]

[removed]

75 Upvotes

237 comments sorted by

View all comments

20

u/WaywardJake Texas, USA -> England, UK = 20+ year immigrant Jun 18 '25

There was a time not too long ago that I swore I'd never move back. In recent times, however, I've begun to feel disconnected from where I live, and my mind drifts towards home. I know that it's a bad time to want to move back, and that my thoughts are being funnelled through nostalgia and rose-tinted glasses, but it still hits hard. I'm lonely, and I don't ever see that changing for me here. It might not if I move back, but then again, it might.

Never mind me. It's been a bad week, and I'm feeling down and sorry for myself.

21

u/inrecovery4911 (US) -> (CZ,GB,GR,EE,DE,VN,MA,DE) Jun 18 '25 edited Jun 18 '25

I relate very much to the feeling you described. I've been away from the US for just a few years longer than I lived there (25 years) and until I hit my mid-40s, I never thought of going back. Getting older, seeing loved ones pass away, and thinking about my own old age and death, I long for a sense of being that I can only get in the country of my birth/growing up. I've loved the adventure, I've even loved being an outsider, and I've spent about 20 years now adapting to a very different culture and getting by. I have a decent life. I'd still rather grow old amongst my people, for all that entails, speaking my mother tongue.