040 homesickness
A brief exploration of homesickness for someone in the diaspora.
I have been feeling more homesick recently, for a place I never lived in and a reality that no longer exists. This is an all too familiar feeling for children growing up in the diaspora, and also for those who sought out opportunities elsewhere alone. Feeling homesick for where you come from goes beyond just missing a place. Homesickness comes from missing something that is worth missing. For many of us in the diaspora, it is a quiet ache, a longing we may have never fully known but that still lives inside us in stories, smells, tastes, and music.
Grieving that loss is not a weakness, but a necessary part of survival. Feelings of nostalgia and emptiness are signals that a piece of our identity is awaiting acknowledgment. Maybe it is the warmth of family gatherings, the sound of Umm Kulthum playing from the balconies, or the smells of a market. Giving space to understand what you are truly grieving allows you to honor the parts of your past and heritage that continue to shape you.
Connection to home often begins in small moments: stories told by parents and grandparents, music playing in the mornings, or recreating childhood recipes. These are not just rituals; they are bridges in moments where you feel isolated. They remind us that home is not just a place but a feeling, a lineage, and a living memory that exists in us no matter how far we are.
The challenge now is to hold onto that longing without letting it define us or trap us in melancholic nostalgia. That is where resilience comes in. By actively seeking connection to culture and community, we transform our grief into resilience. It is not about erasing the pain of missing home; it is about reclaiming it, reshaping it, and letting it remind us of our strength and adaptability. In every recipe we recreate, every story we retell, and every cultural ritual we maintain, we are weaving a safety net for our identity.
Homesickness may always visit, but in learning to listen to it, we discover that it also holds generations of guidance. It shows us what we value, what we carry forward, and what we can cultivate wherever we are. Resilience is not just about bouncing back; it is about integrating the past with the present and honoring what we have lost while building something wholly our own.
The real work of healing in the diaspora is learning to embrace the ache, to give grief its space, and to transform longing into strength. It is in that transformation that we finally feel at home, even if home is both here and there, both now and always.
