Yesterday, I confided in my friends, Eric and Bill, that I wasn't doing so well..... that I was wondering what possessed me to leave family, friends, my garden, my home to come live in Mexico for what was suddenly seeming like a really long time. I was feeling lonely, incompetent and very much an outsider. Bill reminded me about CULTURE SHOCK. I was experiencing the second stage of culture shock. How could I, as a mental health person, have forgotten about culture shock, you ask? Well, I think I have suffered from pride ( the kind that comes before the fall) thinking that I have travelled so much and know so much that I would never fall prey to robbers or to culture shock. My son, Morgan, calls it being a "pollyanna".
The first stage of culture shock (look it up in Google -- it's quite well documented )is excitement and wonder -- the the new culture is so colorful and interesting, much better than the home culture, etc. It usually lasts longer than mine did, but I think the robbery kicked me suddenly into the next stage. According to Bill and Google, learning the language is my ticket to the next stages. And I start that in earnest this week.
Anyway, it helped tremendously to be reminded that what I was going through was a normal process and that things would improve with time.
Una nota a mis amigos Mexicanos: Gracias por vuestra amistad y ayuda!!!
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete