Eva, I lived abroad for six years. Last year I came back to be close to my family.
I thought I’d feel like I was coming home. Instead I feel like a stranger here too: my friends have moved on, and I no longer know where I belong.
Hi. This has a name, and many people who return live through it: coming back is a kind of migration too. You came back to a place that changed, just as much as you changed.
«You didn’t come back. You arrived somewhere new that looks familiar.»
Give yourself the time you’d give a new city. Look for people who’ve also lived abroad; they’ll understand without explanations. And keep something from the life you built there: a habit, a language, a friend at the other end of the line.
With warmth, Eva
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