Why we need to embrace culture shock | Kristofer Gilmour | TEDxTownsville
Summary
TLDRThe speaker shares their experience of navigating culture shock while traveling through India and how it transformed into what they call 'culture comfort.' They emphasize embracing newness rather than fearing it, proposing a three-step process: wander aimlessly to immerse in local surroundings, engage in everyday tasks to become part of the environment, and reflect on experiences to understand personal growth. The approach highlights the importance of adjusting to unfamiliar situations with curiosity and optimism, allowing individuals to adapt, learn, and integrate into new cultures without the burden of culture shock.
Takeaways
- đïž The speaker shares a story about an unintended journey through India, which led to an unexpected and valuable experience.
- đš Culture shock is described as the disorienting sensation when confronted with unfamiliar sights, sounds, and experiences in a new place.
- đ Instead of resisting newness, the speaker suggests embracing it by using a three-step formula: *FlĂąnerie* (wandering), embracing the space, and reflection.
- đ *FlĂąnerie* (wandering) means taking time to observe surroundings without a specific goal, allowing unexpected insights to emerge.
- đ Step two, embracing space, involves participating in local daily activities to increase comfort and reduce the initial shock of unfamiliarity.
- đ Reflection is key to solidifying new experiences and understanding the process of cultural adaptation. Writing or journaling is encouraged.
- đ The speaker highlights that culture shock isnât just about traveling; it can happen in any new situation, such as starting a new job or joining a new community.
- đ§ Overcoming culture shock involves recognizing its symptoms, embracing discomfort, and actively seeking to engage with the new environment.
- đȘ Stepping outside oneâs comfort zone and confronting the fear of newness is necessary for building a sense of belonging.
- đ The overall message is to approach new environments with curiosity, patience, and openness, viewing them as opportunities for growth and learning.
Q & A
What is the main theme of the speaker's message?
-The speaker's message revolves around the experience of culture shock and how to transition from culture shock to 'culture comfort' by embracing new environments, immersing oneself in the unfamiliar, and reflecting on the experience.
How does the speaker describe the initial feeling of culture shock?
-The speaker describes culture shock as overwhelming and disorienting, where sensory input like smells, sounds, and sights overload the brain, making it difficult to process the new environment. There's a feeling of being lost, confused, and disconnected from whatâs familiar.
What analogy does the speaker use to describe trying to adapt old behaviors in a new culture?
-The speaker compares it to trying to pedal a bike after the chain has come off. Despite wanting to do things the same way as at home, it might not work in a new environment, emphasizing the need for adaptation.
What are the three steps the speaker proposes to overcome culture shock?
-The three steps are: 1) 'FlĂąnerie' or wandering around and observing, 2) embracing the space around and engaging in everyday activities, and 3) reflection, which involves thinking about and learning from the experience.
Why does the speaker emphasize 'wandering' as the first step in dealing with culture shock?
-Wandering allows people to observe their surroundings and absorb the new environment gradually. It helps to familiarize oneself with the place without the pressure of fitting in immediately, making it easier to transition from unfamiliarity to comfort.
What personal story does the speaker share to illustrate culture shock?
-The speaker shares a story about living in Delhi and instinctively seeking out a supermarket for groceries, even though there were local ways to get milk and vegetables. This illustrates how people tend to revert to familiar behaviors in new environments, even when other, more convenient local options exist.
What is the significance of 'embracing the space' in the speakerâs approach?
-'Embracing the space' involves engaging with the local environment and performing everyday tasks, like buying groceries or finding a coffee shop. This participation in daily activities helps to bridge the gap between newness and comfort, allowing for a gradual adjustment to the culture.
How does the speaker describe the relationship between newness and culture comfort?
-The speaker explains that as the newness of an environment decreases through exposure and participation in daily norms, 'culture comfort' increases. Engaging with local practices helps in adjusting to the environment and building familiarity.
Why is reflection considered an essential step in overcoming culture shock?
-Reflection allows individuals to step back and understand their experiences. It provides a broader perspective on how they are adjusting, helps challenge preconceived notions, and reveals that normalcy is not static but changeable.
How does the speaker suggest reflection should be done?
-The speaker suggests using tools like journaling, blogging, or writing letters to friends and family to vividly describe experiences. This helps to digest and process the emotions and challenges of adapting to a new culture.
Outlines
đïž Embracing Culture Shock Through Personal Experience
The speaker begins by recounting an unexpected adventure in India, where a wrong turn on a motorbike ride shifted their journey. This unplanned experience sparked a reflection on culture shock, suggesting that we often view new environments through a lens of discomfort, searching for familiarity. The speaker proposes that rather than fear newness, we should explore how to adapt to these differences and accept that we may initially feel out of place. They introduce a formula for transitioning from 'newness' to 'familiarity' and encourage the audience to engage fully with their surroundings to overcome culture shock.
đ The Struggle and Avoidance of New Experiences
In this paragraph, the speaker describes the human instinct to avoid uncomfortable or unfamiliar activities when faced with a new environment. Despite knowing the local way of doing things, they admit to repeatedly seeking familiar options (like supermarkets), which contradicts the essence of their journey. This highlights a common response to newnessâsticking to familiar patterns and avoiding challenges. The speaker encourages embracing the local culture and overcoming this instinct by adapting to new practices and perspectives. The speaker further explains that reflecting on and engaging with discomfort can be a key step in overcoming culture shock.
đĄ Navigating Culture Shock Through Embracing Newness
The speaker emphasizes that overcoming culture shock is about timing and attitude. When faced with discomfort, one should rush toward new experiences rather than shy away. They compare culture shock to an everyday task at home, but in an unfamiliar environment, and argue that taking on simple, mundane tasks helps to build comfort. By exploring local customs, people can reduce their discomfort over time, increasing their 'culture comfort.' The speaker also suggests using these opportunities to build connections with the local community, which is essential for overcoming feelings of loneliness and frustration in new places.
đ Reflecting and Adapting to New Environments
In this final part, the speaker introduces reflection as the crucial last step in adapting to a new culture. They explain that reflection, through journaling or writing to loved ones, helps one process experiences and see the broader journey of becoming comfortable in new environments. The speaker also notes that culture shock isn't exclusive to travel but can happen whenever someone is exposed to new situations, like starting a job or joining a new group. They advise embracing these new experiences with curiosity, following a three-step approach: observe, engage, and reflect, allowing for growth and adaptation without the burden of culture shock.
Mindmap
Keywords
đĄCulture Shock
đĄNewness
đĄFamiliarity
đĄFlĂąnerie
đĄReflection
đĄEmbracing the Space
đĄProcess of Change
đĄCommunity
đĄOvercoming Fear
đĄObserving
Highlights
A personal experience of taking a wrong turn during a motorbike trip in India leads to unexpected cultural immersion.
The speaker introduces the concept of 'culture shock' and contrasts it with 'culture comfort.'
Culture shock occurs when we try to recreate familiar patterns of behavior in a new environment.
The speaker presents a three-step process to overcome culture shock: immersion, embracing the space, and reflection.
Step one, inspired by the French word 'FlĂąnerie,' is about wandering and observing the world around you to become more familiar with a new environment.
A personal anecdote of instinctively seeking a supermarket in Delhi, even though locals purchased from street vendors, illustrates the resistance to newness.
Timing is crucial in managing culture shockâengaging with a new experience as soon as discomfort is felt helps bridge the gap.
Embracing the space around you and engaging in local tasks is key to becoming familiar with strangeness.
Engaging in everyday activities in a new place helps build culture comfort by offsetting newness and forming connections with the community.
Culture shock symptoms should be seen as opportunities to immerse oneself deeper into the new environment.
Step two emphasizes finding tasks that encourage exploration, like searching for a bookshop or the best coffee in town.
Step three focuses on reflectionâjournaling, writing, or scrapbooking helps process experiences and challenges personal definitions of normalcy.
Reflection allows individuals to see the process of becoming comfortable in new situations, making 'normal' a changeable concept.
Culture shock is not limited to travel but applies to any new situation, such as starting a job or joining a new community.
The mantra of 'observe it, do it, and then think about it' encourages active participation and curiosity in new environments, without the fear of shock.
Transcripts
I was riding a motorbike across India in
July last year when the magic of a very
unintended experience took control of my
plan I was actually heading towards
Pakistan at the time I took a wrong turn
somewhere and found myself on this road
and that was excellent and it gave me an
idea we're going to walk through
experiencing culture shock and arrive at
what I call culture comfort I'm going to
describe how I got to being okay with
this situation I'm gonna introduce you
to a formula that maps out the change
process of newness to familiarity but
first let's do a bit of immersion close
your eyes if you like and consider this
scene it's a new city it's nighttime too
perhaps
your eyes are shifting from side to side
moving with your head and neck but
actually seeing very little the messages
from the retin they aren't making it to
the right part of the brain because the
brain is too busy trying to digest the
smells and sounds and sights that are
thrust about you in a chaotic tornado of
newness all the while the brain is
trying desperately to maintain the
age-old task of fitting in while
knowingly standing out the eyes again
shifting looking for a point of
reference of familiarity something to
grasp on and return order to our systems
we're lost or alone we're confused and
then we've got it it's to go across the
street of course towards the Sun vent
undated coca-cola sign sitting tilted
over the doorway shabby sure but
recognizable does this sound like it
could be culture shock is that vaguely
familiar with something you might
understand as as culture shock but we're
asking does it have to be this way we
tend to assume when we arrive that what
we know is the norm and everything going
on about us which were not familiar with
in any given situation is the oddity I'm
going to throw it out there and say
we're a little afraid of newness I think
that's okay so what can we do to
overcome it what can we do to throw it
out the window and conquer that fear of
newness when we encounter a new place we
tend to concentrate on how it may be
different to what we know this is a
useful way to compare and contrast
lifestyles and practices short
interestingly it's not what causes
culture shock a real shock comes later
when we tried to recreate patterns of
behavior from home like trying to pedal
a bike even after the chain has come off
you keep wanting to do things the way
you have that's something to think that
it might not work so well in the new
place so let's take the time to watch do
and then think about how to achieve the
same goals but in a local way so I
propose these three steps to put the
proverbial chain back on our bikes
first of all follow the French example
intro in Flannery Flannery
it means wandering while wandering step
to embrace the space around us and do
everyday things and finally reflection
or use this as a tool to wrap it all
together and create understanding so
first of all step one as soon as we
arrive in a new place go outside go for
a walk sit down have a coffee or drink
and observe the world around you a
French verb that this is Flannery
and translates vaguely to simple
dawdling it encourages the magic of the
unknown experience to occur we have to
allow time for our surroundings to Osmos
the size with our psyche because people
places and things are not often how they
appear at first glance
so let's rather take the time to think
about making ourselves more familiar
with difference so we can become a true
part of our new scene this photo was
taken by a friend of mine outside of our
apartment in Delhi last year
I'm gonna use it to illustrate how I
didn't do this
I needed to buy some milk and veggies I
knew two things I knew that a man I
passed up and down the street each
morning with a goat selling milk and I
knew that veggies were sold down the
square each night but for one month I
inherently and instinctively went to
find a supermarket I found myself asking
later why would I do this and I know
that the locals do it another way and I
think what this shows us is that a
common response to a new environment is
to avoid the difficult and unusual
activities we get so caught up in the
gut-wrenching turmoil of billion feeling
alone and without our usual securities
about us that we get forgotten the
reason why we embarked on the journey
why we stepped out from the door that
day to begin the new adventure
we've lost our motivation and we've
misplaced our inspiration here managing
this part of the culture shock
experience is essentially a question of
timing is that as soon as we feel the
twang of discomfort as soon as we see
the sight of the challenge on the
horizon we should rush towards the
encounter with an optimistic spirit as
sooner we engage with a new experience
it will act as a symbol of willingness
and welcoming to our surroundings and
people will notice the effort that we've
made and the novelty of doing something
you will become the bridge to belonging
without new place we have to want to
experience the shock of culture and we
can do this by embracing the space
around us this part is the most fun step
to I promise you but the first before we
go into it I want you to put yourself in
the mindset when you have a task to
achieve a mission to accomplish at home
something annoying and silly like trying
to find the right battery for the car
key you're out to the shops for a quick
check you've got a vague idea where to
go we end up spending the whole day
going to five or six different places
and getting a bunch of stuff you didn't
need
imagine doing that and a totally new and
unfamiliar environment with no idea and
none of you usual securities or
guidances around you does it bring an
adventurous smile to your face to become
comfortable with newness and familiar
with strangeness we have to give
ourselves something to do go find the
milk figure out how to dress like a
local explorer intrepid I found looking
for the biggest bookshop in town all the
best coffee is usually a good way to
achieve this step embracing our space
creates this newness comfort paradigm
whereas a newness to a situation over
time decreases our culture comfort
correspondingly and necessarily
increases as we participate in the daily
norms of a place will offset the newness
by exposure to the context and dynamics
of the situation and we'll also meet
people but this part is crucial because
will begin to form that relationship
with community so it's important to
recognize the symptoms of culture shock
because it is these that we must seize
upon and the Wackness the kickstart we
need when things are new and we're still
uncomfortable we internalize our
loneliness we stay away from others and
things that are frustrating things that
are new about that place suddenly become
more frustrating but it's these that we
must seize upon because if we throw
ourselves in the casserole of culture
that surrounds us we'll become
distracted by the effort and emerge out
the other side energized by that
challenge and so we move into reflection
reflective practice requires us to step
back from a situation and recognize that
a challenging experience is all part of
a process and it is the hardest process
we can imagine self change basic
reflection is writing things down
journaling scrapbooking blogging writing
to family and friends the important part
is to really get into descriptions and
write vividly because this helps to
digest
experiences but why is this the final
step because reflection allows us to see
the big picture it allows us to see the
process of becoming comfortable it
allows us to see and challenge our own
benchmarks of normalcy it in fact
reveals that normal is not a static
frame of mind and it is in fact
changeable culture shock is not
exclusive to a travel experience and it
is in fact applicable to whenever and
wherever you've exposed yourself to a
new situation think about the time you
started a new job or joined a new church
I began at a new gym you ask yourself
you always ask yourself it's part of the
human condition will they like me am I
going to fit in are they gonna think I'm
a bit weird perhaps even worse maybe
they're going to be a bit weirder than I
thought when we first met I want you to
consider this mantra observe it do it
and then think about it we have to
consciously put ourselves into position
to become aware of the space around us
with no filter but curiosity we have
absolutely nothing to lose
go next to a new place actively follow
these steps throw yourself into the
heartbeat of that place and see what
happens be intrepid about newness and
confront culture without the burden of
shock
you
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