From Dorms to Childhood Bedrooms: Navigating the Emotional Whiplash of Moving Home for the Summer

The end of the school year can feel like a whirlwind—final exams, last-minute goodbyes, packing up your dorm in a single afternoon—and just like that, you're back in your childhood bedroom, staring at walls covered in high school memorabilia that feel like they belong to someone else.

For many college students, moving home for the summer brings more than just a change of scenery. It brings a rush of old emotions, power dynamics, and patterns that feel completely out of sync with the independence they’ve built over the school year.

Let’s talk about why this transition can feel so hard—and what you can do to manage it with more compassion for yourself.

Why Moving Home After College Feels So Overwhelming

Loss of Autonomy

You’ve spent the last nine months choosing your own meals, managing your schedule, and making your own rules. Moving back into a house with family—who may still see you as the person you were at 17—can feel like a loss of freedom. Suddenly being asked, "What time will you be home?" might feel jarring, or even triggering.

Old Family Dynamics Resurface

Even in loving families, returning home can pull you back into roles you’ve outgrown. Maybe you’re the "peacemaker," the "fixer," or the one who’s expected to just go with the flow. These roles can feel suffocating after months of living on your own terms.

And if your family dynamics were toxic or chaotic growing up? Moving home might feel less like a homecoming and more like survival mode.

Emotional Regression Is Real

Have you ever noticed how quickly you slip into old habits when you’re back home? Emotional regression isn’t about weakness—it’s your nervous system reacting to familiar patterns. That defensiveness, that irritability, that urge to hide in your room? It’s not just in your head. It’s your body remembering what it felt like to be younger, less empowered, and less understood.

Coping Tools for the Transition Home

Name It to Tame It

One of the most validating things you can do is simply name what’s happening. “I feel like I’ve regressed.” “I’m grieving my independence.” There’s power in naming your experience—it helps shift you out of shame and into self-awareness.

Set Micro-Boundaries

You don’t need to declare your independence with a dramatic family meeting. Start small. Maybe you ask for privacy during certain hours. Maybe you schedule time outside the house each day, even if it’s just a walk. Boundaries don’t have to be big to be meaningful.

Find Your Regulation Rituals

What helped ground you at school? Was it journaling, meditating, blasting music during a walk to class? Re-create some of those rituals in your home environment. Even tiny routines can remind your nervous system that you’re still in charge of your healing.

Use This Time for Reflective Growth

If moving home is triggering deeper stuff—like relationship wounds, past trauma, or anxiety—you don’t have to navigate that alone. Therapy during the summer can be a powerful bridge between who you were and who you’re becoming.

This Is More Than Just a Summer Break—It’s a Portal for Healing

If this transition is stirring up old emotional wounds or just making you feel "off," you’re not broken—and you’re definitely not alone.

At Peaceful Living, we specialize in working with college-aged clients who are navigating the in-between. Whether you're dealing with anxiety, trauma, family triggers, or emotional burnout, we’re here to help you reconnect to your center—so you don’t feel like you're just surviving the summer.

Want to talk to someone who gets it? Book a free consultation with one of our trauma-informed therapists today.

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About Stephanie Polizzi, EMDR Therapist Specializing in Eating Disorders

Stephanie Polizzi, LMHC, is an eating disorder EMDR therapist at Peaceful Living Mental Health Counseling in Westchester, NY. She specializes in EMDR therapy for eating disorders, body image issues, and trauma recovery.

Stephanie helps clients of all ages heal their relationship with food by addressing the root causes of eating disorders with Peaceful Living's trauma-informed methods. This approach helps clients achieve real, lasting relief for good.