//From experience to social impact
MY personal journey
A personal Journey starts - over and over
Growing up with a mother from Thailand and a father from Denmark, it wasn't unusual for the cultural differences I grew up with to shape my identity, and for my sense of belonging to be shaped by social relationships rather than cultural or geographical roots.
It felt natural and easy to grab my backpack and travel the world at a young age. It would be 10 years, 3 continents and 6 countries before I returned to Denmark. As an expert in living in other cultures, adapting to them and dealing with culture shock. That's what I thought. During my travels I learned to adapt and navigate in different cultural contexts and references. This has had a positive impact on my communication and social relationships, both across and within the wide range of cultural differences that exist.
With my backpack full of intercultural competences and experiences, I landed back in Denmark and was surprised to experience new culture shocks that were not related to travelling in a new culture abroad. Culture shocks that were hidden behind mistreatment, crisis or conflict in and around me.
I began my research.
It felt natural and easy to grab my backpack and travel the world at a young age. It would be 10 years, 3 continents and 6 countries before I returned to Denmark. As an expert in living in other cultures, adapting to them and dealing with culture shock. That's what I thought. During my travels I learned to adapt and navigate in different cultural contexts and references. This has had a positive impact on my communication and social relationships, both across and within the wide range of cultural differences that exist.
With my backpack full of intercultural competences and experiences, I landed back in Denmark and was surprised to experience new culture shocks that were not related to travelling in a new culture abroad. Culture shocks that were hidden behind mistreatment, crisis or conflict in and around me.
I began my research.
Entering crises and conflict through intercultural exchange
My interest in people and culture led me to become a social educator and later a psychotherapist.
Through decades of intercultural youth exchanges, I worked my way into international crisis management and intercultural conflict resolution and mediation.
Here I discovered cultural shocks caused by cultural differences turning into conflicts, activated by social behaviour and interpersonal interactions, with resistance and strong fronts on both sides. Cultural shocks not caused by ethnical differences, but by individuals personal expectations that were not met or could not be changed.
I saw how it affected self-esteem and confidence through personal crises, and how a whole family could be affected by one person's culture shock, escalating into loss and grief in people. I saw how resistance could turn into threats or mental or physical suffering, depending on individual coping strategies, experiences and resources. I learned that culture shock is very complex, comes in many, many forms and degrees, and strikes at any time.
Through decades of intercultural youth exchanges, I worked my way into international crisis management and intercultural conflict resolution and mediation.
Here I discovered cultural shocks caused by cultural differences turning into conflicts, activated by social behaviour and interpersonal interactions, with resistance and strong fronts on both sides. Cultural shocks not caused by ethnical differences, but by individuals personal expectations that were not met or could not be changed.
I saw how it affected self-esteem and confidence through personal crises, and how a whole family could be affected by one person's culture shock, escalating into loss and grief in people. I saw how resistance could turn into threats or mental or physical suffering, depending on individual coping strategies, experiences and resources. I learned that culture shock is very complex, comes in many, many forms and degrees, and strikes at any time.
IT TAKES ONE TO KNOW ONE
Today I see a shared human movement in culture and shock, through conscious and unconscious layers, expressed differently in individuals and cultures.
A collective and shared experience, that crosses borders and cultures and can rattle or lame us or a moment or a lifetime, through big changes in life or significant cultural differences.
When I collect and share peoples stories with culture shock, it is my intention that our shared experiences, will contribute positively to thrive and a sense of shared humanity that foster peace and just - individually and collectively. Because, when we have to walk alone, our culture shocks can come at a high human, socio-economic and global cost.
By travelling out of comfort zones, through new and threatening territories and back to ourselves, we have the opportunity to grow and break free - and support others through our experiences. The recipe fof my personal inner crises with change, was not to be found in other countries or through the crises of others, but on the journey into my own narrative of culture, connection and identity, through a lifetime of culture shock.
A wise woman once told me that I needed to walk the path myself before I could help others - and I did - many times - and still do. Meanwhile, I feel priviliged to to walk beside you.
A collective and shared experience, that crosses borders and cultures and can rattle or lame us or a moment or a lifetime, through big changes in life or significant cultural differences.
When I collect and share peoples stories with culture shock, it is my intention that our shared experiences, will contribute positively to thrive and a sense of shared humanity that foster peace and just - individually and collectively. Because, when we have to walk alone, our culture shocks can come at a high human, socio-economic and global cost.
By travelling out of comfort zones, through new and threatening territories and back to ourselves, we have the opportunity to grow and break free - and support others through our experiences. The recipe fof my personal inner crises with change, was not to be found in other countries or through the crises of others, but on the journey into my own narrative of culture, connection and identity, through a lifetime of culture shock.
A wise woman once told me that I needed to walk the path myself before I could help others - and I did - many times - and still do. Meanwhile, I feel priviliged to to walk beside you.
20+ years, supporting personal intercultural adjustment crises and conflicts
Today, I enter and embrace our culture and nature from a holistic perspective and an integral approach. From a social, humanistic and holistic foundation, where insights into life contain partial truths, interweaving a range of cultural, psychological, socio-economic, biological, spiritual and behavioural perspectives, that help integrate experiences through multiple stages, levels and states.
“I’ve never heard of anybody who awakens in their comfort zone.” — Eckhart Tolle
