Just visited my home country (EU) and I am now returning to my expat country (US) and a wave of depression hit me.
I never considered myself to be very attached to my family or my country but after three years and now finally coming back to visit, last night I was extremely depressed. I created an overall good life for myself in the US and I don’t think I would ever see myself coming back to the EU to live permanently, but now I am at the airport leaving and I can’t help but feel an overwhelming sadness.
I’m wondering what experiences other people had in regards to this. Does it get easier? And is leaving after visiting always this sad?
I can’t go back to my country so I have never visited it since I left, which has been a very long time ago. It might sound dramatic but I consider myself lucky because I have never had an option to return and visit, and could fully focus on resettling in another place and making it a new home - which I did, and it’s my only home now, and I can’t care less about the past.
Here is a thought - you might feel this way about your family and people you have seen when you were back, not the country itself. It’s almost always about people. Ask them to come to your next time.