The Reversibility of Migration: When We Doubt the Journey

Migration is often imagined as a one-way path: a departure that cannot be undone. Yet for many migrants, there comes a moment of questioning—Should I go back? Did I make the right choice?

This experience, which I call the reversibility of migration, can be disorienting. Life abroad is rarely as simple as the dream that preceded it. Loneliness, cultural barriers, financial pressures, or a sense of lost identity can awaken the desire to return. At the same time, the thought of going back may carry its own weight: fear of failure, shame, or the realization that “home” has also changed; "The Reversibility of Migration: When We Doubt the Journey".

From a psychoanalytic perspective, this oscillation between staying and returning reflects the deeper ambivalence of the psyche. Migration activates unconscious fantasies of freedom and rebirth—but it also stirs old attachments and unresolved conflicts. The pull to return is not always about geography; it is about longing for a lost sense of wholeness, a wish to undo the rupture.

This state of in-betweenness can be exhausting. The migrant may feel suspended, unable to fully invest in the new country while also unable to go back. In this sense, reversibility is less about actual return and more about an inner struggle: the psyche’s attempt to negotiate loss, desire, and identity.

Yet, within this doubt lies possibility. To question migration is to confront the complexity of belonging. Sometimes, the answer is to stay. Sometimes, it is to return. But often, the deeper work is to recognize that we carry many homes within us, and that belonging is not bound to a single place.

If you find yourself caught in this oscillation, know that you are not alone. In therapy, these questions can be explored not as signs of weakness, but as part of the ongoing work of making meaning out of migration.

If this resonates with your journey, I would be glad to accompany you in exploring these crossroads in a session.