As the title, I relocated to Switzerland 10 months ago.
In the beginning I had the usual normal anxieties of moving away from home for the first time. However as time went by, adapting to living in Switzerland became harder for me.
I feel a bit defeated because Switzerland is a beautiful place and there are so many good things I love about it, but I just cannot seem to be happy 😔 winter is now here and I feel a bit worse.
I am thinking of moving back to my home country. The thought of being back around my family, the things I love to do, my old friends is making me want to go back more and more. I had an easy life but my salary was not the best hence why I wanted to move.
Is it normal to regret? I am very disappointed in myself for feeling like giving up and going back. But I have been quite depressed for the last 7 months.
When I said the words out loud that I want to go back home I felt a huge sense of relief…however I am still hesitant to lose the opportunity to live here.
I am welcoming any advice you can share. Thank you everyone.
Honestly, I’d give it another few months - get through spring. I’ve seen what I call the 3-month slump happen too many times - I went through it and have seen numerous others experience it. It hits around 3-5 months in, where it’s more than the expected anxiety and stress for first-time expats, and it lasts about 6-9 months, in almost every case i’ve seen (obviously this is anecdotal). Then after that year mark, it stops being connected to being an expat. I went through it in Italy. I still didn’t want to stay in Italy, but I stopped wanting to go back to the States too, and I was able to better identify what my issues really were. I did end up moving, but I made a move that was better for me in the long run. Some people find that after that period, they really are happy in their location, and just needed time to assimilate.
I kind of think you’re in that slump, and winter - in a place with hard winters - is exacberating that.
Give yourself more time - you may still want to move, but you may find you don’t want to move back home, so much as to a different city or a different country.