But Why Would I Have
Culture Shock When I’m Going Home?
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| The big question that puzzles us usually,
is--why? Why, when you’ve returned home after being
absent only a year or two, should you have any adjustment
at all? After all, you’re home!
Let’s start by looking at some of the reasons
this happens.
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| 1. |
Probably the major single factor
is that reverse culture shock is so unexpected. Virtually
everyone anticipates some adjustment problems when they
leave their home and go to a new culture. But no one
really expects any major adjustments on their return.
So what they don’t anticipate, they don’t
recognize and prepare for. The obvious starting point
for you then, in dealing with reverse culture shock,
is simply to expect it. |
2.
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The second major factor arises
from our concept of home. What is home? Dumb question?
Not really.
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Most of us have never analyzed home. It
just is. But if you analyzed it, you’d probably
realize that home is where people and things are familiar...
comfortable... predictable... safe.... It’s where
you belong. But when you go home after an extended absence,
you discover several things: |
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- Some parts of the once-familiar may now
actually feel a bit strange.
- Elements that previously comforted you may now seem
somewhat uncomfortable.
- Neither the environment of home, nor even you yourself,
feel quite so predictable...or safe.
- You may even discover that while you still belong,
at the same time a part of you belongs somewhere else,
too.
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Life has moved on. People and places change,
even in a short time, and if your stay overseas was even
partially positive, you found new people and things that
are familiar...comfortable... predictable...and safe.
You even found a certain sense of belonging in a new
place. And so when you returned home, you found that
home feels a little less like home now. You may even
find yourself getting “homesick” for that
faraway place where you lived for only a year or two.
It’s all quite confusing!
The result is that in a very real way, home may feel a bit like a “foreign
country” at times, and you may feel a bit “homeless” upon your
return, and that’s not a very nice feeling! It’s no wonder that many,
many returning volunteers very quickly begin making plans to go back as soon
as possible...back to that new “home.”
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| 3. |
Another factor contributing to reverse
culture shock is that returning home is so sudden, so
complete, and feels so permanent. You got on that plane
and instantly you left behind everything of the new life
you were living. There is no gradual adjustment. You
recognize that the chances of you returning half-way
around the world are pretty unlikely.
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| 4. |
One additional factor in the adaptation
process is that you often experience this alone. No one
seems to understand you and if they try, they have a
hard time understanding why you’re having a hard
time. After all, this is home! And we all know “there’s
no place like home!” You should be ecstatic! So
what’s wrong with you?
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| Click here for next section: |
What are the Stages and Symptoms of The
Transition Process?
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