My friend said something simple the other day but it stuck.
“You’re just like any other normal person in social settings”, he said. I get how I appear to be a regular person – why not? I have a regular job, like most people, a place to live, I do my groceries on the weekends.
But internally, my mind feels restless, I feel conflicted on holidays, I think twice before forming responses because I don’t speak my native language. I am evaluating social norms, processing my hesitance, shock, adaptability – or lack thereof; all the time. Yes, I look like just another person seemingly doing pretty well in the society, but no one will get this feeling unless they are a part of the “living in a new country club”. I don’t expect a softer treatment from anyone bc of this – but my experience of life is nothing like that of someone who has lived in one place their whole life.
