A Tale of Two Culture Socks

So one morning when you’re getting ready to go out on an adventure, you put on a nice pair of socks. You’re too excited to notice what you’re putting on and all you notice is that both socks seem to be red and blue with some sort of stripe pattern going on. When you’re on your way, you notice that the socks are in fact a little bit different, but you’re so excited that you either don’t care or don’t think it’ll be that big of a deal. One sock is from a pair that you wear all the time and are comfortable in whereas the other is a new purchase.

Once you finally get to your destination, you’re still pretty excited. The socks are both blue and red, so so what if one has some white and a few more stripes on it? All you notice are the similarities between the two and you thoroughly enjoy your time there.

But after you’ve been in adventure-land for a few weeks, you start to really notice the differences between the two socks you have on. You feel isolated because your socks aren’t like everyone else’s and start to withdraw from social situations. There is an onset of incredible boredom and the need to sleep all the time. You become self-centered, selfish, and irritable. You may even indulge in stereotyping or hostility towards the sock which you just got (poor sock!). It’s a terrible state to be in and you’re fully aware of what you’re feeling and think there’s nothing you can really do about it right now. You know that adjusting is a process and will try very hard to be better, but it’s hard.

But luckily all is not lost for your situation of the socks of two cultures! You will gradually start to adjust to having your feet in different culture[s] socks and life will get easier. After that, you will fully adapt to the situation and be able to function in both.

Even though socks can be hard to deal with, the benefits of living through them is worth it. The key is just getting past the hostile stage and working towards acceptance. Right now the feelings of grumpiness and irritability are overwhelming, but with a little effort, things will get better (right??).