Moving is never easy…especially if you move somewhere completely new and different all alone as an adult. Trust me, I’ve been there more than once. Moving can be really scary…but it’s also a huge catalyst for growth.

Successfully making a new city feel like home can be revolutionary to who you are and the life you live. It is no easy thing to achieve, but with the tips laid out in this article, I hope to help you believe that it’s possible.

Keep reading to learn:

1. Why Moving City as an Adult is So Difficult
   1. The Positives of Moving as an Adult
   2. The Negatives of Moving as an Adult
2. Starting Over Somewhere New
3. Eight Tips to Make a New City Feel Like Home
4. You Can Do This

Why Moving City as an Adult is So Difficult

I’m lucky enough to have lived in many different places throughout my life. I’ve restarted in London, LA, Auckland, and most recently, Tokyo. Moving so much has given me some of the greatest adventures of my life, and some of the biggest challenges.

Particularly for remote workers, changing cities or countries becomes normal. We get accustomed to saying goodbye, being on the road, and building out a new life somewhere new. One thing that never gets easier, however, is learning how to make a new city feel like home.

There’s a reason we keep moving and although I’m sure I will eventually settle down and lay roots, for now, I’m embracing my life of movement – the pros and the cons.

The Positives of Moving as an Adult

• Endless new experiences
• Being outside of your comfort zone
• Building friendships around the world
• The opportunity to deepen your knowledge of other cultures
• A heightened sense of self

The Negatives of Moving as an Adult

• Travel burnout
• Distance from loved ones
• Loss of friendship
• Feeling like an outsider
• Cultural differences and challenges

Starting Over Somewhere New

Finding a sense of community and no longer feeling like a stranger are important elements of a healthy work-life balance as a digital nomad. If you don’t feel like you are in your home, you’ll have a constant sense of living a temporary life and find it hard to ever truly relax.

The reality is that starting over somewhere new is always going to take time. You’re probably not going to find ‘your people’ in a matter of weeks, and cultural/language barriers can make assimilation especially difficult.

But that also makes it important.

Growth doesn’t happen when you are comfortable. The more challenging an experience, the more rewarding the outcome will be. There are few things I am more proud of than the lives I have built around the world, and whilst yes it’s difficult to leave them, each new destination is an opportunity to discover things about myself and the world I would never otherwise know.

Eight Tips to Make a New City Feel Like Home

Having moved so much in the last 10 years, I have developed my own techniques when it comes to making a new city feel like home. Now, I’m so happy to share these tips with you.

1. Accept It Takes Time

You are not going to feel perfectly at home overnight. It took me six months before I started to love my life in New Zealand and a year to fully feel at home here in Japan. Learning a new place along with its traditions, culture, and people is going to take time.

Don’t expect yourself to have everything figured out in a matter of days – that’s too much pressure! Instead, try to simply enjoy the adventure of taking each day one step at a time.

2. Explore

It might sound simple, but one of the best ways to make a new city feel like home is to get outside and explore. Walk or drive through not only your new neighbourhood but the city as a whole. Find nearby day trips and visit local attractions so that you slowly start to get your bearings on the what’s what of this new home.

Exploring is also the perfect activity to fill weekends or evenings before you know too many people in the city. Each solo adventure is going to build your confidence and help you to feel just a little bit braver.

3. Get to Know Your Local Area

One of the things that has worked best for me in getting comfortable in a new place has been finding ‘my spots’. Whether it’s a go-to restaurant, local cafe, or favourite park, I love discovering the areas that tourists might not know about.

The better you know your local area, the more familiar it will feel. Part of what makes home feel like home is that you know it inside out – try to do the same with your new neighbourhood.

4. Make Friends

This might just be the trickiest part of making a new city feel like home. Learning how to make friends as an adult in a new city means putting yourself out there and actively pursuing new people to connect with. It’s hard and it takes time, but it’s also probably the most important step in this list.

If you live abroad, friends become your family. They’re your support network, your co-adventurers, and your guides through the ups and downs of living somewhere far away. Keep an open mind when looking for new friends and don’t be afraid to make the first move – your future self will thank you.

5. Eat!

I live in Japan so I am obviously slightly biased – the food here is some of the best in the world – but one of the best ways to start loving a new place is to dive head-first into the food. Whether it’s a new cuisine or a familiar one, there will be places all over your new home that offer unique, delicious, or unlikely meals.

To eat the food of a place is to know it. Food is such a huge part of culture, and it can be your gateway into instantly connecting (and loving) the place you now call home.

6. Reconnect with Home

Calling or reaching out to your loved ones back at ‘home home’ is no failure. It’s so important to stay in touch and to reach out for support in moments of homesickness or overwhelm.

Beyond just speaking to family or friends, there are little ways to bring your ‘home home’ into your new home. From cooking family meals to watching familiar shows or having a stockpile of your favourite products – you can bring little pieces of home everywhere you go.

7. Test Out Different Co-working Spaces

For those digital nomads or remote workers like myself, working from home all the time can be so isolating and lonely. The best thing about location-independent work is that you can work from anywhere!

Think about experimenting with where to work from working from a coffee shop to finding co-working spaces in your city. A change of location will help you get to know your new home better, not to mention create new networking opportunities and bring a little extra inspiration into your day.

8. Decorate Your Space

Making somewhere feel like home starts with your bedroom. Don’t forget that you have control over what the room you start and end each day looks like! Taking the time to decorate a space so that it feels like YOU can be the start of feeling like an entire city is now yours.

We spend 1/3 of our lives asleep, so why not feel at home whilst you’re doing it? Experiment with interior design to figure out what makes you feel most comfortable and create a space that truly sparks joy.

You Can Do This

As I said, having built lives for myself all around the world is something I’m fiercely proud of. I’ve been tested at every level from becoming comfortable being on my own to learning how to pay taxes and even speaking a whole new language. And I’ve made it through each and every one of these challenges. Read more of my story.

Living far from home is always going to be hard. There are moments when you feel lost and alone. There are times when you might believe you’ve made a huge mistake. But I promise that you haven’t.

You moved to this place for a reason – even if you don’t know it yet. Every day is an achievement and your new life, friends, and version of yourself is just around the corner.