Stages of homesickness

1. Move away. Immediately idealize your new city. It is unexplored, untouched, and generally rife with possibility. You’ve seen movies. You know how great this is going to be. Nod to yourself approvingly because OH MY GOD how brave are you to start over in a new place?
2. Get settled in your new apartment. Learn the ins and outs of your new neighborhood. THERE IS SO MUCH TO SEE! WHO EVEN HAS THE TIME? LIFE IS FULL OF PRECIOUS BLESSINGS.
3. Cry.
4. See, you have come to the sudden realization that leaving the city your parents grew you in is both strange and unsettling. Maybe you’ll just take a nap today.
5. Romanticize your hometown. It is perfect. You know it like the back of your unsteady hand. Your friends and family are there, and they GET YOU. Maybe you’ll just go back for a teensy visit and then oh holy stunted adulthood please don’t make me go back to new city.
6. You know what? New city isn’t so bad. You are meeting people here, going out, and socializing. It’s going to be a process before this really feels like home but you’re totally starting to get the hang of it. YOU ARE NAILING THIS. CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU.
7. Cry.
8. You really are going out a lot though. You are having “the FUN”.  New city is a shiny treasure map and by golly you are one gung-ho pirate.
9. Cry.
10. Have a moment of clarity, wherein you understand that just because this isn’t easy doesn’t mean it’s not right.  You moved here for a reason, be it for your graduate degree, a job, or whatever else, and that wasn’t a decision you took lightly. You’ve made friends in new city, and you’re starting to understand how things work here. Change is twisted, after all. You’ll have dark nights where you call Status Quo up, begging it to take you back into its familiar arms. Ultimately, you and new city will get along like gangbusters. It just takes time, the right attitude, and some breathing exercises.