Home again, expecting to pick up where you left off? It may not be as easy as you think. You’ve changed, your interests have changed, and your friends have changed. For the first few months you may even feel like a foreigner in your own culture.
Coming home to culture shock is frustrating. You become depressed and irritated, but you don’t know why. Perhaps it’s because you are no longer unique - the center of attention. Perhaps it’s because life suddenly seems too predictable and boring. How do you let go of the negativity and begin to heal? Here are six tips that might help:
1. Think ahead and prepare for it! Anticipate that negative emotions and mood swings will come as you experience reverse culture shock.
2. Surround yourself with positive people who can help to keep you upbeat and open-minded. Not everybody will want to hear about your experiences abroad. Seek out those who do!
3. Keep a journal. From the time you arrive in your passport country, note down the things that take you by surprise – things you took for granted before you left home. Through journaling you can ventilate without annoying other people. It’s very therapeutic.
4. Focus on the things you appreciate most about your own culture now that you’re back again. As a returning American, for example, be thankful that you can speak the language fluently, buy clothes in your size, and drink the water without running for the Pepto Bismol. Enjoy the change of seasons and the change of clothing fabrics and colors that go with them. Appreciate the care and consideration Americans give to those with special needs – priority parking spaces for the handicapped, braille signs, tactile paving, wheelchair accessible buildings and public buses. Delight in the squirrels that scamper freely through your yard or the rabbits, raccoons and deer that wander through our wooded areas. Be thankful for the well-tended rest areas provided for travelers along our nation’s highways, freeways, and interstates, and be grateful for the beautiful national parks and protected wilderness areas set aside for the enjoyment of all.
It’s not that hard to focus on the things you appreciate most about your own culture once you set your mind to it.
5. Keep in touch with those you met while living abroad. They are not only a link to your overseas experiences but a ready source of support.
6. Cherish your foreign culture experiences, but don’t live in the past. Make plans for the future. Indeed, living abroad has changed you forever, but that’s good. Look for opportunities to travel. Who knows, maybe you’ll even find a chance to take on a new foreign assignment. Get ready to move on!.
Coming home to culture shock is frustrating. You become depressed and irritated, but you don’t know why. Perhaps it’s because you are no longer unique - the center of attention. Perhaps it’s because life suddenly seems too predictable and boring. How do you let go of the negativity and begin to heal? Here are six tips that might help:
1. Think ahead and prepare for it! Anticipate that negative emotions and mood swings will come as you experience reverse culture shock.
2. Surround yourself with positive people who can help to keep you upbeat and open-minded. Not everybody will want to hear about your experiences abroad. Seek out those who do!
3. Keep a journal. From the time you arrive in your passport country, note down the things that take you by surprise – things you took for granted before you left home. Through journaling you can ventilate without annoying other people. It’s very therapeutic.
4. Focus on the things you appreciate most about your own culture now that you’re back again. As a returning American, for example, be thankful that you can speak the language fluently, buy clothes in your size, and drink the water without running for the Pepto Bismol. Enjoy the change of seasons and the change of clothing fabrics and colors that go with them. Appreciate the care and consideration Americans give to those with special needs – priority parking spaces for the handicapped, braille signs, tactile paving, wheelchair accessible buildings and public buses. Delight in the squirrels that scamper freely through your yard or the rabbits, raccoons and deer that wander through our wooded areas. Be thankful for the well-tended rest areas provided for travelers along our nation’s highways, freeways, and interstates, and be grateful for the beautiful national parks and protected wilderness areas set aside for the enjoyment of all.
It’s not that hard to focus on the things you appreciate most about your own culture once you set your mind to it.
5. Keep in touch with those you met while living abroad. They are not only a link to your overseas experiences but a ready source of support.
6. Cherish your foreign culture experiences, but don’t live in the past. Make plans for the future. Indeed, living abroad has changed you forever, but that’s good. Look for opportunities to travel. Who knows, maybe you’ll even find a chance to take on a new foreign assignment. Get ready to move on!.