Immigration: hesitation, fear, and joy
What is immigration?
Wikipedia:
Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and other short-term stays in a destination country do not fall under the definition of immigration or migration; seasonal labor immigration is sometimes included, however.
Immigration is moving from your native land to another country permanently. But why immigrate? What makes people leave all they have in their country and go somewhere else?
Why immigration?
Since day first, humans have been exploring unknowns to find the best place to live. They have settled in areas that could provide them good conditions of living such as climate, water sources, food sources and etc. Although these conditions are all important and necessary for human beings to live, in the modern world are not enough.
Modern societies are not scaled as a good place to live just based on the climate and food sources. They are scaled based on so many other items that are important for people to live their lives at their best. These factors could include freedom, human rights, women’s rights, a good education system, happiness level, life expectancy, financial stability, peace, and many more other factors.
For choosing a place to live, every person has different factors to consider. For a family, education and childcare might be the most important factor, for a young ambitious businessman or businesswoman financial stability and growth might be the most important ones, or for someone born in a country in which speaking of one’s idea is not allowed freely, freedom is the most important one.
Before deciding to immigrate one could experience asking themselves following questions:
What if where I am born is not where I want to spend the rest of my life?
What if staying in my country means giving up my dreams and ambitious?
What if living in a society that does not allow me to be myself and to express ideas that I believe in, is not what I want for myself and my children?
And so many other what-ifs, which has led people to think of finding a way to change their condition of life. Although it is not always easy the answer to those questions is moving. Moving to a new house, a new city, or a new country.
3 feelings you experience the most when immigrating
Hesitation:
Hesitation is probably the first and the strongest feeling you experience when you decide to immigrate. Hesitation stays with you all the time even when you immigrate and build a new life. It haunts you every time you face a challenge or you miss your family. It could be so strong that convinces you to change your mind.
The hesitation comes when you are not sure if the decision you have made is correct. You ask yourself if it is a good idea to leave your family, friends, job, and everything you have built whole your life behind and go somewhere else to start everything over. You are not sure if you are going to succeed. And so many other reasons that can make you feel hesitant and question the idea of immigration.
As an immigrant, I know as a fact that hesitation is not a bad thing. It makes you double think about your motivations and reasons for immigration. It helps you to see why you want to immigrate, what you lose, and what you could earn. It gives you a perspective of what could happen to your life after.
Fear:
Fear is another strong feeling that is with you from the moment you decide to immigrate. It is completely normal and you don’t need to control it, suppress it or hide it. Fear is a mechanism that protects humans from any possible danger. Your mind recognizes any changes in your routine as a possible danger because it can’t predict what happens next.
Immigration could be scary in so many ways. Because you don’t know what you will be facing exactly. You don’t have a job or source of income. You might not speak the language fluently. You are not sure how you are going to manage to find a home to rent or buy, finding a job, or enrolling your children at school. Even buying groceries is scary because you might not be familiar with products in the new country.
Remember, it is normal to be scared although you need to focus on your motivations to be able to go forward.
Joy:
Joy is the best feeling you experience when you immigrate. The excitement and joy of exploring new places, meeting new people, knowing new cultures, and learning new languages are ecstatic. This is the exact feeling that made Christopher Columbus sailing across the Atlantic Ocean and explores America five hundred years ago when there wasn’t the internet, plane, or any other technologies that ease the way to the unknowns.
Joy is the reward for people who risk, overcome fear, and go for a new life.
If you want to be successful as an immigrant, don’t look back
The first days and weeks of immigration are very challenging. There are so many things to do. Every step you take and complete you feel proud and relieved but thinking about all other steps that you have to take could be very overwhelming. You might doubt your decision one million times before you call the new country, your new home.
As rewarding as this journey could be, there are moments that you look back and question the whole process you have started. You might even want to leave everything and go back home. In these moments you need to remind yourself why you left your country in the first place.
Always look ahead, and try to stay motivated. For every step, you complete, pat yourself on your back. Because what you have done is brave and courageous. Not every person on this planet has the courage to do what you have done.
Stay focused on your future and don’t look back. You have the blood of all brave people in history who risked and got awarded by success and happiness.
Welcome to your new home!
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