Culture Shock: Is It Such A Bad Thing?

Posted on 21. Sep, 2009 by Emmanuelle Archer in Blog, Expat Life, Musings & Inspiration
5 comments

I am still thinking about that Bill Bryson quote that I found last week. What if culture shock wasn’t such a bad thing after all?

I am not – not for a single second – implying that culture shock is a pleasant experience. More often than not, it’s uncomfortable if not downright painful.

But there’s enjoyable, and then there’s useful. Just because culture shock is unpleasant doesn’t mean that it cannot be a positive experience.

Let’s try a different perspective for a second: we all agree that expatriation changes you as a person, and usually for the better. Expats share common skills such as greater adaptability, open-mindedness, resourcefulness, and, as a study recently showed, greater creativity.

How many of these highly desirable traits would you have developed or strengthened as an expat if you had never experienced culture shock? Would there be anything to gain if you never came into contact with a culture whose habits, behaviours or values challenged your own beliefs?

Bottom line: No culture shock = no growth.

Oh. I had never really thought about it that way.

That’s a big shift, actually. Seeing culture shock not as the enemy, but as an opportunity. That’s something new for me. I’ll try and keep that in mind next time something in Canadian culture (such as the all-pervading fear of conflict) catches me off guard.

I wonder how that will change my response, if I remember to look for the opportunity to grow.

And in the meantime, I would love to hear your thoughts on the subject…

Emmanuelle

Images by M@rio Rossi (top) and Vratsagirl (bottom), both via Flickr Creative Commons