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How To Cope With Relocation Depression After Moving To A New City?

Did you know that relocating to a new place can bring an imbalance in your mental health and wellbeing? Contrary to popular belief, people can get depression after moving to a new city. Moving to a whole new place is a tedious job. The goodbyes, the packing, and finding accommodation aren’t all that add pain in moving to a new city. It can also lead to post-relocation depression. However, the symptoms of relocation depression can be subtle. Are you depressed about where you live right now? Read on and learn how to tackle it!

Fighting depression without knowing that you have it is indeed hard. But still possible.

Let’s face it! 16 million adults are depressed in the United States alone, with 264 million people depressed globally, according to WHO.

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What is Relocation Depression?

Relocation depression is an overwhelming feeling of unhappiness you feel post moving to a new city. It occurs due to the fear of uncertainty or unknown life ahead of you. Relocation depression is also connected to the loss of familiarity with old things in your old home.

Relocation Depression Symptoms

According to NCBI, relocation stress syndrome symptoms are more common in adults who experience depression shortly after moving to a new place. Some of these symptoms are:

  • Anxiety
  • Hopelessness
  • Confusion
  • Loneliness
  • Increased sleep
  • Less self-love
  • Reluctant to get out of bed
  • Lack of interest to socialize
  • Unwilling to leave the house

Any form of depression is often confused with ‘sadness.’ But there are slight differences. For starters, when you are sad, you always have one hobby, one person, one place to turn to, and your sadness blues disappear. You are stuck in a monotonous life.

Yet you still have a bit of energy to scroll through your news-feed, update your bestie about the tragedy and seek advice.

Things To Do If You Are Feeling Depressed Or Bored

But when relocation depression hits you out of nowhere, you have nowhere to go, no one to turn to because you don’t know why you feel void, what is stopping you, what has accumulated so much that it won’t come out.

You have conversations in your head, yet you cannot hold a conversation with even your closest ones. You cry sometimes and, at times, staring at the emptiness that surrounds you after your move.

alignthoughts-girl-at-window-in-depression

I know it’s hard. I know you need help. But the best help is self-help.

I know you feel stuck at the new place without friends, but it is you who have the power to move out of that zone, step out of the aura that holds you behind. It would be best if you created a new aura of positivism.

It would help if you channeled your inner negative vibes into positive ones.

Staying at home alone, being on the couch binge-watching Netflix shows, and listening to music cannot help much.

But one step at a time will surely do. A step towards exploring yourself. Here are easy ways to cope with relocation depression after moving to a new city.

Tips To Cope With Relocation Depression After Your Move

Here are the simple yet effective steps to cope with depression and get back to the happy you!

1. Explore Your New City And Find Out New Hobbies

does travel-help-fight-depression

Start reading about the best places to visit in your new city and go to one! Enjoy and connect to the locals, or even find new things to do on weekends like city breaks.

Be it a road trip, staying with locals, or rock climbing, challenge your comfort zone and bring out your fear of living in the new city and burn it to ashes.

That moment when you can achieve something like this totally out of the box, you would feel a sense of content, satisfaction, liberation, peace, and, most importantly, pure bliss and happiness.

And you come back not only refreshed but as a renewed person.

2. Make New Friends

relocation depression-does moving to a new city help depression

Now that you have a long-distance friendship, new friends can be a blessing in disguise to help you overcome relocation depression.

Making friends as an adult can be challenging, especially if you are in a new city. When you get out of your home and meet people, try to make friends with like-minded ones. You can also start making acquaintances with your neighbors or colleagues.

Here you can learn how to make friends as an adult.

3. Step Out Of Your Comfort Zone

Well, it’s obvious and right to some extent that you need family and friends to be by your side when you battle out depression. But it would help if you realized that you must fight your own battles.

When you are getting uncomfortable, it means you are growing in life.

You must dust yourself and stand on your feet because you cannot lean on someone else for support all the time.

And the best way to bring out the warrior in you is to step out of the comfort zones of the known-loved one’s arena and step into an unknown place, with complete anonymity of who you are, the baggage you carry within yourself and surrender among unknown faces.

4. Explore Your Identity, And Create Your Personality.

Learn about the person that is still within you, the one that doesn’t reflect on your birth certificate, on your surname, or your job profile.

To be able to understand others, you must understand yourself first. Be the lone soul explorer in the new city, but first explore your own soul.

Relocation depression often eats away our raw emotions; we are left with nothing but avoid feeling. Build your emotions, listen to your inner voice, learn to trust your instincts, for it always signals the good and the bad.

Trusting your instincts and building your self-confidence is what a new city offers. You can have a whole new personality in this new town. You can make mistakes and learn from them. You develop your own safety as well as do’s and don’ts protocol.

Being self-dependent with an admirable personality is the best thing you can do for yourself.

5. Overcome The Fear Of Being Alone.

Accept the fact that someone will not always be by your side. Moving to a new place will be extremely scary, and on top of it, knowing that you are going to be on your own could shake you a bit more than necessary.

But here is where you defeat your fear and rise above it. Start reading about the local news, rules, and regulations of the new place you have moved to if you hadn’t already.

And in all the hustle-bustle of moving out and settling down, you wouldn’t even realize when your empty mind is filled with questions and curiosity to settling scores with answers.

When strangers become friends, life again gives you a chance to understand humanity in a different land. The culture, the lifestyle, the thought process differs from place to place.

Moving out to a new city gives you that splendid opportunity to explore not only lanes but also the people who pass by.

And before you could realize, your depressed mind is filled with new zeal and curiosity to step up on your feet and explore the new place on a walkathon, making friends on the way and learning to smile at random faces again.

A new city will give you a new mindset without any ‘conditions applied’ and ‘subject to market risks’ warnings. It gives you the space to breathe free and be your own kind. It gives you the freedom to make choices, to learn from the choices, all of it just on your own without any known person to give you advice.

A new city can renew you! And trust me, you won’t even realize when your smile and inner peace make your depression blues disappear.

6. Be A Fighter. No Matter How Many Times You Crumble, Give It One More Shot!

As we discussed earlier, it is important to step up and out of your comfort zone, away from your known, loved people, and break free of the circles of depression. After all, being happy is your choice.

It all starts with you, and at every stage, every second, you have the power to re-write your next moment. Pull up all that you have left within you, the last iota of energy drop, and drag yourself out.

Make a move, be the change and start over fresh because you were born to live your life the way you want, and depression cannot take that away from you.

Be your own sunshine!

Concluding thoughts on moving to a new city depression,

All I know is don’t sympathize with yourself. Challenge yourself. Be the new YOU!

Cultivate the mindset of accepting the new environment instead of always returning to nostalgia about your old city. Meet new people, make new friends, learn the local language.

There are a lot of things you can do to cope up with post-relocation depression.

One day at a time, you will soon notice you have already started liking and owning your new city.

Does moving to a new city help depression? Have you had post-relocation depression symptoms? Share your thoughts in the comments section below. Share this article with near and dear ones and spread love.

Also, subscribe to us for new posts and stay tuned!

Key Takeaways on Relocation Depression After Moving To A New City

How long does it take to adjust to moving?

This can differ across people with different personalities. But as a rule of thumb, moving to a new city and feeling completely comfortable can take anywhere from 3 months up to a year or two.

And when you have recently moved to a new city, you may likely fall victim to relocation depression due to the changing environment.

Losing contact with friends and family can make it worse.

How long does it take for a new place to feel like home?

This also goes with adjusting to moving to a new place or city. It can take at least three months, depending on how big is your move.

How do you cope with moving to a new place?

Here are some of the easy ways to cope with moving to a new place:

  1. Try to be a well-rounded person.
  2. Explore with the locals.
  3. Create your personality.
  4. Embrace solitude.
  5. Get a pet.
  6. Overcome the fear of being alone.
  7. Step out of your comfort zone.
  8. Have an open mindset to experience new cultures, languages, and people.
  9. Connect regularly with family and friends back at home.
  10. But make new friends also.
  11. Try fun weekend outings.
  12. Cultivate new hobbies.
  13. Keep busy.

How does moving to a new house affect you emotionally?

Moving to a new house can affect you emotionally, mentally, and of course, physically as well.

A new place can bring multiple emotions, including both happy and sad ones. The joy and excitement of being in a new city can sometimes easily be overridden by the loneliness and feeling of nostalgia back at home.

You must maintain a healthy balance between the two and stay positive.

Can living somewhere make you depressed?

Of course, living in a place where you don’t feel at home, don’t have any friends, and do not do anything productive can easily make you depressed.

For example, if you are an outdoor person living in a cold country with little or no outdoor life, then chances are you may get easily depressed living in that place.

How winter can change impact decision making? Learn about SAD – Seasonal Affective Disorder.

Nihar B
Nihar B
With a decade of experience as a woman in tech, Nihar has worked with a range of companies from Fortune 500 corporations such as IBM, Accenture, Ericsson to H&M Group. Her diverse work-life enables her to share her knowledge to develop, grow, and succeed both professionally and personally in today's ever-changing world.

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