Always look back ... the healing power of nostalgia

JUST got a posting to Mumbai, London, Dubai? Congratulations and commiserations will start pouring in. The challenges of adjusting to a new country are well documented - the culture shock from the different way of life, the food, and the new rules of interaction. There are no similar concerns for those returning home, perhaps because the process does not involve learning a new language or new norms. However, many returning expatriates - or repatriates - often experience reverse culture shocks and a sense of discontinuity in their careers and personal life.

While common advice for repatriates is to move on from their international experience and try to forget about the past, our research shows that an opposing strategy - holding on to the host cultural experience - is a more effective adjustment strategy.

Nostalgia, or a sentimental longing for one's past, consists of meaningful and rosy memories that warm the cockles of one's heart. Repatriates returning home also often describe the years spent in the host culture with sentimental longing; they have come to embrace the host culture and adopted some of its values and behaviours. Upon returning home, repatriates may experience hostalgia, a nostalgia for the good times and experience in the country that had hosted them.