When we migrate we can face different challenges Depending on the characteristics of the personality, the belief system, coping skills, professional training and emotional management, all of these can cause a migration situation to be perceived with different sensations when faced with the same facts.
One of the first challenges we face, and it is the same for everyone, is stress and anxiety, due to uncertainty in the face of the unknown The most common challenges are: adaptation to the culture we are going to, the language and the search for a home, since it can take many months and even years, as it is in most cases to find yourself feeling at home.
Different fears may appear that were not felt before, fear of the disease, social fear, aggravation of pre-existing disorders. Migratory grief is suffered with its respective phases, the first is the loss of home, that place that we felt was safe and that reflects who we are.
The loss of identity, since our person is formed according to the environment and our culture, determining many of our tastes and ways of behaving. The distance from the family, even if it is not a family structure with the best foundations, We greatly resent the loss of that network of trust that supports us and that we know supports us and picks us up when we feel like we are falling
The social circle, our lifelong friends, accomplices and confidants, with whom we feel that we can be ourselves and share our joys and our sorrows. The loss of comforts, although there are many reasons that move us, most likely in the place from which we fled we had many comforts, a house, a car, our own business. An inexplicable contradiction, because we had a lot but it did not last over time.
Loss of our professional value, if we have academic achievements, we can suffer the total loss of our achievement, since they are professions that differ greatly between countries such as degrees in law or architecture, where We must do extra studies to be able to obtain our academic position again Or in other cases, spending a long time waiting in processes to obtain approvals to be able to practice. In other cases there is a total transformation of the professional profile.
For many it is usually a traumatic experience, since the migratory process was probably not something planned with enthusiasm, as a decision of their own because they wanted to experience other lands and cultures. Rather, it was an arbitrary decision that led them to an immigration action because they were in an uncontrollable and irremediable situation, such as lack of economic resources, war, dictatorship, violence, political persecution or degrees of corruption in the country of origin that did not allow them to have stability in the future.
A common denominator for migrants who move even within their own country is loneliness, feeling sad being alone is much more painful than feeling sad and being accompanied, solving the financial and housing problem, obtaining regulatory papers in the host country. In many cases we will find discrimination, due to prejudices that also depend on the “fame” that has been created around our nationality. Especially when it comes to renting a home.
They are issues that challenge us and at the same time hurt, a combination of many important discomforts that do not allow us to concentrate, and depending on our personality, we will or will not want to do things, we will feel motivated or not. What is certain is that although we manage to unleash within ourselves an idea that this migratory movement is a new opportunity and a way out of other old problems, it does not mean that we will not feel that pain.
The barriers that we may encounter as migrants could be those of access to health, mental health due to lack of resources in the host country to provide programs for migrants, due to lack of knowledge, due to not mastering the language, due to not having health insurance, due to lack of economic resources and in many cases it is the stigma associated with the search for psychological help.
Tips to deal with these experiences
Given the increase in stress and anxiety that is experienced in these processes, for which there is not enough time to plan and fill up with information as well as develop coping skills, it is recommended:
