Are You Suffering with Culture Shock? – Part 1

Have you taken the wild jump and moved overseas and now are feeling lost, confused and questioning your mental sanity? If so, you may be suffering with the symptoms of culture shock.  This is exactly what happened to me over two years ago when I moved from California to London.

I define culture shock as anxiety and feelings of surprise, disorientation, uncertainty and confusion felt when people have to function within a different and unknown environment.

You have made a significant life transition and this has put you into a cycle of change - just like the caterpillar metamorphosing into the butterfly.  It helps to understand that you will pass through several phases of change while dealing with the effects of culture shock.  By identifying and understanding where you are on this change cycle can help alleviate your uncertainty, sadness and lack of direction.

Here’s how the four steps of the change cycle look:

Step 1 – Death and Rebirth

Step 2 – Dreaming and Scheming

Step 3 – Daring and Emerging

Step 4 – The Promised Land

Lets talk about Step 1 today – Death and Rebirth. 

The change you have made is so big that it ends up redefining the way you see yourself.  You may have moved overseas for a new job, a new relationship, or some other wonderful adventure.  Perhaps you have made the change from single person to married or have chosen a new career path. You no longer fit your old mold and have not yet become comfortable in your new role.  This is where you mourn your old life and begin to explore your new one.

You do not want to make any big decisions right now.

Look inside and ask yourself if you are feeling more mad, sad, glad or scared.  Write these items down and ask yourself why you feel this way.  Keep asking Why? Why? Why? until you get to the bottom of what is really upsetting you. What are the thoughts behind your feelings?

Once identified you will find that your thoughts will fit in one of four categories:  Fear, Grief, Anger or Joy.  Now that you have identified what you are feeling and why, you are better armed to start the work to dissolve your feelings of fear, anger or grief and get you headed back down the path to joy.

Here’s some tips on how to cope on this threshold:

Fear means its time to take action and decide to run or face your fears.  You can take some small first steps by doing some investigating and information gathering..

Grief means it’s time for you to heal.  Experience your sadness, grieve your old life and add more comforting activities.

Anger means you feel an injustice has taken place and you must voice your thoughts in a calm and constructive way identifying what you want to change and why.

Joy means that you keep doing what you’re doing and do as much of it as you can.

You are going through some major changes right now so be easy with yourself, don’t make any big decisions and examine your thoughts and feelings to get to the actual pain taking steps to dissolve it.

Let us know below what tips and thoughts you find helpful in relieving the effects of culture shock.

• Stay tuned for my next blog post on Step 2 – Dreaming and Scheming…this is where the fun starts.