How to Deal with Homesickness and FOMO on the Road

Homesickness and FOMO are two struggles a lot of traveling nurses experience at one point or another in their travels. Real talk: traveling assignments may seem adventurous, but the reality is you leave behind significant others, family members and pets so you can work.

On top of this, extended stays away from the people and animals who matter can create feelings of anxiety and loneliness. To fight all the negative emotions, here are some tips to pick yourself up and stay in touch with everyone back home:

Make the little things count

Whether your travel nursing assignment is a month, 3 months or longer, you can miss out on a lot of important things when you’re away from family and friends. Sending a text or calling home can mean the world, so make time for the people who matter so you can stay up-to-date on what they’re up to!

Call home whenever you can. Hearing a family member’s voice can be incredibly soothing and can take a load off built-up stress. With some nurses working night shifts and others working in different time zones on their assignments, making time can be difficult. The key is to make time whenever you have it. Even if it’s only once or twice a week, your family and friends will appreciate when you do make the effort.

Video chat for all the important stuff. Free smartphone apps like Snapchat and Skype make video chatting and sending photos really convenient and easy. When you can’t be home for birthdays or holidays, a live video chat is the next best thing! Tell them you love them to their face because all the important conversations with loved ones deserve some eye contact.

Focus on your own experiences

The Fear of Missing Out, or FOMO, can be very real for traveling nurses, especially for birthdays and holidays. One of the best ways to cope with this anxiety-rooted feeling is focusing on having fun wherever you’re at and taking your mind off everything you’re not experiencing.

Keep a diary. If you see something happening back home you missed out on, write about it in a journal. Writing down our thoughts is a great way to make reminders to ask loved ones later about what happened and how the experience was. Apps like Penzu and WordPress let you create free, digital diaries you can carry with you anywhere and can access any time of the day.

Schedule time away from social media. Social media can be a source of this type of stress and anxiety so scheduling time to unplug and do other stuff with your day can help relax the mind, body and soul. Your friend had her bachelorette party without you? Schedule time to put down your phone and grab your own celebratory glass of wine.

Get up and get out. When you’re on a new assignment (especially when you’re in a new city) opportunity is all around you! A great way to clear the mind is experiencing new and exciting things! Hike a mountain trail, bar hop the local breweries, hit the beach in your swimsuit or tour a museum or art gallery. As basic and mainstream as Google seems nowadays, it’s always a great resource for finding things to do. Need ideas for activities? Google “exciting/fun things to do in (insert city name or region here)” and see how many new things the site finds for you to try.

Social Media can be a social lifesaver

Even though social media can create stress, it can also be used to network, connect and find things to do in your local area! Whenever you’re feeling homesick, check local Facebook groups to plan out some cool things to do to keep your mind distracted while you have some fun!

Step 1: Search for a group

Taking your mind off how homesick you are is as easy as search, type and enter. Select some groups which seem relatable to your interests and join!

Step 2: Join the group

Or request to join the group (because some groups have privacy settings or exclusive invite rules). Most major cities have public travel nursing Facebook groups available as a networking resource. Joining the group will alert you to all the upcoming events and things other people in your space are doing!

Step 3: Network in the group

Write your first post and introduce yourself! It’s the fastest way to meet people and network in the social media setting. Who knows, some of your new contacts could become lifelong friends and travel partners for future assignments!

At Freedom Healthcare Staffing, we know frequent traveling can create stress. Some stress can come from anxiety build-up over missed opportunities back home. Use these tips whenever you’re feeling homesick and bid bon voyage to the extra stress!

Looking to stay close to home on your next assignment? Check our travel nursing jobs portal for jobs in your area. We offer locations all across the US and have great positions for every kind of adventure!