Monday, December 31, 2012

Going Through Stages


Sometimes it feels like I am completely alone in this world, but I’m about to feel even more alone as I will be on my way to London in just four days. Somehow I’m starting to feel okay with everything. Maybe I’ve just had enough time now to prepare myself mentally for this amazing journey I am about to embark on or… maybe not. I guess the real test will be when I’m standing in line at the airport, waving good-bye to my family and friends. The other possibility is that the realization hasn’t even hit me yet, but I feel oddly calm about leaving right now. Maybe I’ve gone through a process, you know, like the grieving process? The first stage is Denial followed by Anger, Depression, and lastly - Hope. Only in my case the stages were marked (1) Over-Excitement, (2) Untamed Uncertainty, (3) Depression, Stress, & Anxiety, and (4) Acceptance. If I have gone through some sort of process, I’ve definitely reached the last stage. Only now, I’ll go through another process – the process of culture shock! 

How strange it is that I will be the foreigner in a country that is completely foreign to me.

1 comment:

  1. Culture shock is a funny thing - I've always had it upon returning home (as in being more shocked by the way we live in the U.S. than the way of life in other countries). Many others have it when they are, as you stated, foreigners in a completely foreign country. Either way, it will subside and another form of acceptance will proceed. Acceptance that the world is a big place, we live in completely different ways, and yet, we're all on this planet together, more or less going through the same struggles.

    I hope that, rather than culture shock, you experience something completely different. A culture "crush", perhaps. An overwhelming feeling of love and excitement and anticipation of all the wonderful experiences to come.

    Embrace it! And best wishes!!!!

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