Culture Shock, Stress, Fatigue 6 of 9 (Al Stewart)

Culture shock.  For the past few weeks we have been thinking about it and talking about it.  It’s something that affects all of us expats to one degree or another and we’re going to think some more about it today.

 

But first, let me ask you a question.  Is culture shock a disease?

 

Maybe sometimes it feels like it.  When you think about some of your physical and emotional feelings that seem to have resulted from the effects of culture shock and stress, maybe you kind of wonder.

 

Apparently, according to one source I came across, many, many years ago some medical journals described culture shock as a debilitating — and potentially terminal — disease caught by people who suddenly found themselves in another, totally different culture.

 

Now doesn’t that make you feel better.  I don’t know about that quote.  I’m not really sure if that was a true quote or not, but it does give you a moment of thought.

 

Actually you should feel encouraged.  You can live through culture shock and culture stress. Thousands, probably millions, of expats have done it before you.  Even I have survived it.  So cheer up.

 

Let’s see what else we can learn about this affliction that is known as culture shock, culture stress and culture fatigue.

 

First, let’s quickly review our terms here.  What is the difference between culture shock, culture stress and culture fatigue?

 

If you were to think of the three terms as though they were sitting on a chronological time line they make sense quickly.  First comes culture shock. then stress, then after awhile fatigue.

 

Culture shock is what hits you when you first realize that just about everything in this new place is different, so different that some of the things that happen can be quite annoying.  That’s culture shock, especially the differences that hit you when you first arrived in this place.  But culture shock doesn’t only hit the newcomers.  So don’t smile smugly to yourself as you welcome a new arrival to join your work team and watch and hear their reactions to some unique thing in this culture.  Culture shock can also happen to you at any time, even after you’ve been here for months or years.  You may think that you are pretty familiar with the country and culture when suddenly a new situation arises unexpectedly and a way of handling the situation or performing a task that is totally different from anything you are used to is in front of you.  You can think of the right way … your way … your cultural way of doing it, but that is not the way it is done here.  For a moment you experience another brief, hopefully it’s brief, or it might be an extended sensation of culture shock.  It can happen to any of us. 

 

That’s culture shock.  It isn’t necessarily something that only happens sometime in the first few days or weeks of encounter with the new culture.  It can very likely hit you can more than once from different directions.

 

Culture STRESS, on the other hand, is the continuing effect that these culture differences, and your attempts to adapt and work with them and around them, have on you and your emotions. You know what stress is, don’t you?

 

One definition describes stress as … a mentally or emotionally disruptive or upsetting condition occurring in response to adverse external influences and capable of affecting physical health, usually characterized by increased heart rate, a rise in blood pressure, muscular tension, irritability, and depression.

 

Another condensed definition of stress would be … physical or mental pressure, tension, or strain.

 

I won’t take the time to review the rest of the definitions we’ve had of stress.  I think you know what stress is.

 

Culture FATIGUE is our third step.  We talked about this last time.  Culture fatigue is the exhaustion you feel from everything always being different, the tiredness that dumps on you from constantly trying to adjust and adapt to ways that are so different from your own, from constantly having to be sensitive to the local cultural customs.

 

Fatigue is a feeling of weariness, tiredness, or lack of energy.  It’s not just the kind of tiredness that makes you want to take a nap, although that could help.  Fatigue includes a lack of energy and motivation.

 

Do you know the feeling?  The constant attempts to work alongside this local culture have made you tired.  Day after day the same stress and you’re exhausted.  You not only have experienced culture shock and you not only have culture stress but the constant stress has given you a case of culture fatigue.  You’re tired but you can’t sleep and if you do sleep, when you wake up you feel just as tired as when you went to bed.  I know what that’s like.  I’ve experienced it.

 

Culture shock and culture stress are not a disease, not exactly, but it can have some strong, and sometimes serious, effects on you, your body, your emotions and your effectiveness in the work  you are supposed to be doing.

 

Listen to these symptoms I found listed for culture shock and culture stress.

 

1.  A feeling of sadness and loneliness.

2.  Headaches … pains … and allergies.

3.  Insomnia - difficulty in sleeping - and the reverse of that … sleeping too much.

4.  Becoming overly concerned about your health.

5.  Feelings of anger … and depression.

6.  The smallest problems suddenly become huge and seem overwhelming.

7.  Feeling insecure.

8.  Becoming obsessed with cleanliness.

9.  An overwhelming sense of homesickness.

10.  Frequently questioning your decision to come to this place.

 

Sound familiar?  You may have one of those symptoms, more than one or a combination of some of them.

 

So yes, culture shock and culture stress are real.  So is culture fatigue.

 

…Maybe it’s the hours and hours of dealing with the local bureaucracy … the paperwork … the long time spent standing in line to accomplish something that seems like it should be so simple.

 

… Maybe it’s the concept of time.  You made an appointment to meet a certain person.  The time was agreed on, and the place of meeting, so you arrived there on time, or even a little early, but the person you were supposed to meet didn’t show up.  There was no phone call to say he would be late or that he wouldn’t be coming.  The next time you meet, there is sort of an explanation - he’d forgotten it was a school holiday and decided to spend the time with his son.   No apology for the fact that you wasted an afternoon waiting for him.  It’s like the event never even happened.

 

Culture stress?  Yes.

 

…Or maybe you’re trying to get a workman to build something for you.  You show him how you want it to be built but he shakes his head and says most vehemently, “No. It can’t be done that way. It’s not possible.”  What he means is, he’s never done it that way before.  He’s never seen it done that way before.  It wasn’t his idea to do it that way, so therefore it’s impossible to do it that way.  It can’t be done.

 

Culture stress?  Again, yes.

 

You have this happen often enough and the stress produces fatigue.  Along with it some of those symptoms I mentioned a few moments back – headaches, pains, anger, depression, insomnia, and oh yes - an overwhelming sense of homesickness.

 

Haven’t we all done this:  you begin repeatedly questioning your decision to come to this place.

 

Culture shock, culture stress and culture fatigue can do this to you.

 

So what do you do to cope?  What do you do to survive?  I’ve mentioned a few ideas in our previous visits on this subject.  Here are some more.

 

Relax.  “Yeah right.”  No, I mean it.  Relax.  You don’t have to be in control of everything that happens around you.  You’re obviously not in control of the way the clocks work in this place.  Some of the local ways of telling time and keeping appointments can be frustrating, but recognize that this happens.  That’s easier to do after the first time you’ve wasted a few hours.  Recognize that the person you are supposed to meet just might now show up today, maybe tomorrow, or maybe the next day.  Be prepared.  Have a contingency plan if you like.  Have something with you that you can work on in that time, even if it is just a book you’ve been meaning to read.  Not only will that help to fill the time and use the time constructively, but it will help you to relax a little and reduce some of that stress you’ve been feeling instead of letting the missed appointment add to your stress levels.

 

Simplify your schedule.  Don’t plan on doing too many things in a day or an afternoon.  Back home a certain thing may take you an hour to accomplish.  Here it may take you three hours or a whole day.  Plan on doing less.  Plan on appointments that may be late or missed.  If the appointment is on time, great.  If the job gets done quickly, wonderful.  If you have time left over say, “Thank You Lord” and maybe go for a long walk.  Get some exercise.

 

Like other kinds of stress and fatigue culture stress and culture fatigue can be helped by finding ways to relax.  This is not just sleep - that helps, but only partially.  Take a break to get your mind off the frustrations.

 

Do something creative like writing your thoughts and experiences in a journal.  Write a humorous account of the things you have seen today.  There were some, I know there were.  In the middle of the frustrations, if you let yourself think of them, there were some humorous incidents.  Write them down.  It will help to relax your mind and your emotions.

 

Thank the Lord for the new insights he is giving you into the local culture.  With a little relaxation this afternoon you just might sleep better tonight and be more refreshed, relaxed and ready to face tomorrow.

 

You probably won’t entirely eliminate culture fatigue but you can help to keep it a manageable level.

 

Next week we’ll take another look at culture shock, culture stress and culture fatigue.