Blog 13: Belonging & Home

13.03.26 06:35 PM

Strengthening a sense of belonging and home independent from location

Living abroad or moving frequently as an expat or digital nomad can be incredibly exciting, but it can also challenge your sense of belonging and home. Therapy can help you stay grounded while living a mobile lifestyle and develop a deeper sense of belonging that isn’t dependent on a specific place.

​​Jump to the section you'd like to explore: Feeling lost after moving abroad | Homesickness | Not knowing where home is | How therapy helps | What EFT tapping therapy is | About me | Book a free session

Belonging & Home: Feeling grounded while living a mobile life

Travelling frequently or living as an expat, traveller or digital nomad offers incredible experiences. You get to explore new cultures, see places you once only saw in films or on social media, and meet people from all over the world.

I know the excitement well - I feel it too.

But even when we love this lifestyle, something else remains true: humans are wired for belonging.

No matter how much society evolves, and how easy technology makes it to move around the world, our brains still crave certain basics — safety, connection, familiarity and a sense of home.

So if you sometimes feel unsettled, divided between places or unsure where you belong, know this: it’s a very human response to a life that involves constant change. And it’s something that can be supported and processed in therapy.

​​Feeling lost after moving abroad

Many people feel excited before moving abroad or arriving in a new country. But once the initial excitement settles, the reality of being somewhere completely unfamiliar can begin to surface.

There are the practical adjustments - finding the supermarket, figuring out public transport, learning how daily life works in a new place.
But there is also a deeper adjustment happening internally.

Your body may already be physically present in the new country, but your mind is still reorganising your sense of place and identity.

You are recalibrating:

  • how you move through the world
  • how you relate to people
  • where you fit in this new environment

It is very common to feel lost after moving abroad, especially during the first months. This does not mean the move was wrong. It simply means your system is adapting. Therapy can provide a space to slow down and process these changes, helping you gently rebuild a sense of grounding and orientation.

​​Homesickness while travelling or living abroad

I remember when I first travelled abroad. I’m Brazilian and moved to Texas as an exchange student. One Sunday afternoon I was sitting in my bedroom and thought: I wish I had a teleportation superpower - I would go have a coffee with my family and come back later.

That moment stayed with me.


Homesickness is a very natural part of living abroad. In a way, it can even be beautiful - it means you have people, places and memories that matter deeply to you. But missing home can also feel heavy at times.


Therapy can help you process homesickness in a healthy way, allowing you to acknowledge the sadness without becoming overwhelmed by it.


And it’s important to remember something many people forget: Even if you chose to move abroad, you are still allowed to miss home.

Choice does not remove emotion. You can love the life you created abroad and still wish you could hug someone back home sometimes.

Both things can exist at the same time.

​​Not knowing where home is as an expat, a nomad or a frequent traveller

Many expats, travellers and digital nomads eventually experience a different kind of feeling: Belonging everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

If you live a nomadic lifestyle or are constantly travelling, you may repeatedly create routines, friendships and a sense of familiarity in one place - only to leave again for the next destination. You unpack your life temporarily, make yourself comfortable in a new space, then pack everything again. Over time this constant cycle can feel destabilising.

For expats, a different tension may appear. You may feel divided between: your home country, the country you live in now, the places that shaped you along the way. 

In any lifestyle, you might find yourself thinking:

  • “Where is home now?”
  • “Where do I really belong?”
  • “Which version of myself is the real one?”

Therapy can help you explore these questions without pressure.
Instead of forcing yourself to choose one place or identity, you can gradually develop a deeper understanding of what home means for you personally.

As writer James Baldwin once said: “Perhaps home is not a place but simply an irrevocable condition.”
In other words, home can become a sense of safety within yourself. A grounded relationship with your body, your emotions and your identity - regardless of where you are geographically.

​​How therapy supports belonging while living abroad

If you are feeling:

  • lost after moving abroad

  • homesick while travelling

  • unsure where home is

  • emotionally tired from constant movement

therapy can provide grounding and emotional support.


Instead of pushing these feelings away, therapy helps you listen to them and understand what they are communicating.

Very often, these emotions are not problems to eliminate - they are signals asking for attention and integration.

Through therapy, you can gradually develop a stronger inner sense of belonging that does not depend entirely on a specific place.

​​What is EFT tapping therapy?

EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) - often called tapping therapy - is a gentle therapeutic approach that combines cognitive processing with body-based regulation.

During an EFT session, we lightly tap with our fingers on specific acupressure points on the face and upper body while talking through thoughts and emotions.

These points come from the same meridian system used in acupuncture, which is why EFT is sometimes described as acupuncture without needles.

The process works in two ways:

  • Cognitive processing: Talking about your experiences allows thoughts, beliefs and emotions to surface and be processed.
  • Nervous system regulation: Tapping on acupoints sends calming signals to the brain, helping the body relax while processing emotions.

Together, this makes EFT a powerful approach for working through emotions related to:
  • homesickness
  • identity shifts abroad
  • stress from constant change
  • belonging and self-definition

​​I work with adults living a mobile lifestyle

As an expat and a nomad myself, I understand many of the emotional challenges that can come with a life of movement.

I truly love this lifestyle - and my goal is not to change it for you. Instead, I help people feel more grounded, clear and emotionally supported while living it.


If you are navigating questions around belonging, identity or home while living abroad, therapy can provide a safe and supportive space to explore these experiences.


I offer online EFT tapping therapy sessions, so you can access support wherever you are in the world.


Finding your sense of home within yourself

Living abroad or moving frequently can be exciting, but it can also bring moments of uncertainty, homesickness or feeling in-between places. You don’t have to navigate these feelings alone. I work with expats, digital nomads and people living internationally to build a stronger sense of belonging within yourself, so you can enjoy your mobile lifestyle feeling more grounded and emotionally supported.

Book a free session
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