For long-term expats, reverse culture shock is a thing. Like an old Rocky movie where Apollo Creed delivers the right jab before landing the left hook, reverse culture shock can be a devastating one-two punch depending on how the expat handles it. Jerry Nelson, an American expat in Argentina, talks about how he experienced culture shock when he visited his home country after two years away.
During my lifetime, I have traveled to, and worked in, 155 countries. I never experienced severe culture shock until 2017 when I returned to America after two-years in Argentina.
In 2017 after spending five-years overseas, I returned ‘home' and ran head-on into the downside of American culture.
First, BOOM. The move overseas. Then after several years abroad, BAM. Returning to one's ‘home country'. Managing and surviving culture shock all depends on how the expat chooses to deal with it. Do you fight it or go with the flow?
Materialism and waste
Compared to many people, Americans have discretionary income. Okay, that's not true for ALL Americans, but the majority do spend money on things which appear ‘material' to other cultures.
Going back into the American environment from an Argentine culture which has less affluence, and less of a culture of capitalism, was a shock. Mind-boggling were the well-stocked American supermarkets, the hundreds of choices, and the exploding vista of colors displayed while Walmart Radio plays perpetually.
Fast-paced
America is fast-paced and people are always in a hurry. Sure, I've been to other global cities which were also less laid back, but America is the culture of fast food, 24/7 shopping and non-stop ‘let's do something'. A constant desire to be entertained has made Americans constant performers in an unreal reality.
Values and attitudes
My friends' values and attitudes changed while I was gone. I was surprised as I adopted new ways of thinking about the world from living in South America.
I saw America through a different and sharper lens. I saw both strengths and weaknesses and developed a resentment around unbalanced criticism by Americans who never experienced the rest of the world.
The American way is not always “right” or even “best. I have grown impatient with people who are critical of other countries and blindly accept everything American. My concept of ‘home' has become foggy as I watched people in America stay stressed and frantic, never relaxing.
Effects of Reverse Culture Shock
Craig Storti, a nationally known expert in intercultural communications and the founder of Communicating Across Cultures, notes these 7 effects in his book, The Art of Coming Home.
- Criticality,
- Marginality,
- Overexertion,
- Resistance,
- Withdrawal,
- Self-Doubt, and
- Depression
Travel and creativity
The good news is this. Travel actually makes a person more creative.
In 1869, Mark Twain wrote in his travelogue Innocents Abroad that “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.”
There's a scientific reason why travel has motivated many superb writers, from Twain to Ernest Hemingway to Anais Nin. In general, creativity is linked to neuroplasticity, or how the brain is wired. Neural pathways are inspired by environment and habit, which means they're susceptible to change: new languages, smells, sounds, sensations, sights and tastes trigger different synaptic connections in the brain and have the potential to revitalize the mind.
Adam Galinsky, a professor of business at Columbia University and the author of much research on the links between creativity and international travel, says that foreign experiences increase both cognitive suppleness and flexibility—the mind's capacity to jump amongst diverse ideas, a key component of creativity—and depth and integration of thoughts, or the skill to make strong links between dissimilar ideas.
In 2015, Galinsky examined creative directors of more than 250 high-end fashion houses. Tracing eleven years of collections, Galinsky, along with his research team, searched for links between creative directors' experiences while working abroad and the fashion houses' creative innovations.
Trade journalists rated the level of creativity behind a given product. The results showed a clear link between the time spent abroad and creative output. Galinsky found the brands whose creative directors lived abroad and worked in other nations consistently produced more creative fashion lines than those who had not.
The lesson? Go out now and identify your true place in the world.
The Takeaway
After living overseas for years, I know that returning to the states again, even for a visit, will be challenging. But I also know that the season of re-entry, however long, can be explored with a spirit of thankfulness and hope.
