Managing Re-entry Home: Strategies to minimise reverse shock

In the blog last week, we examined an approach to systematically planning both the exit from the host nation and the return home. This week, we will evaluate several practical strategies that help returnee sojourners minimise typical challenges that can arise during the re-entry adaptation phases.

The emotional challenge of the return home

Several sojourners have described the initial re-entry into the home context as being a period of grieving. This uncomfortable experience is triggered by the sudden loss of established friendships, routines, an enjoyable social calendar, and the seemingly endless novel adventures in the host nation. Consequently, the return is not merely a physical relocation but also a socio-cultural and psychological process of readjustment often made more depressing by being somewhat dull in comparison to the typical daily experience overseas.

Indeed, the re-entry challenges faced by many returnees can frequently feel even more disquieting than the initial adjustment to the host culture for three primary reasons. First, neither the sojourner or members of their various immediate employer or support networks typically anticipate re-entry difficulties and are surprisingly unprepared for the consequences. Second, during the extended period overseas, both the sojourner and the home context would have inevitably undergone changes that are frequently significant. Finally, it is only on actual arrival in the home country that the returnee becomes fully aware of the extent of both their personal transformation and that of the general home landscape.

Therefore, returnees can find themselves abruptly thrown into a situation where they struggle to resolve a variety of emotional, interpersonal, and practical conflicts in the home environment that has become oddly unfamiliar sometimes to the point that they now hold uncomfortable negative critical feelings about the context.

Consequently, it is essential to begin careful planning for the exit and re-entry home well in advance of departing the host nation to have time to fully evaluate and research potential challenges.

Strategies to minimise the threat of possible reverse shock

1. Stay connected

First, maintain contact with friends in the host nation to stay connected to the culture while retaining your new international identity. This will also significantly help in the avoidance of the emotionally debilitating experience of reverse homesickness.

2. Continue development

Then, during extended periods living in an alternative cultural context, the sojourner will inevitably acquire new skills, competencies, and interests that extend well beyond learning the host language. This might include some development experiences like sports, elements of the local arts, and forms of cultural entertainment. For both personal and professional reasons, it is important that this new learning is continued, not just dropped and lost. This will also help to remain connected to the host culture.

3. Share selectively

Another experience frequently reported by returnees is a sense of disappointment and even frustration that few people at home are interested in the sojourn experience. Indeed, the term sojourn bore has become a common critical label. Consequently, it is important that the returnee share their experiences only with those who show interest in the sojourn and then only with those for whom it might be beneficial in some way.

4. Be realistic

Be practically realistic about the challenge of re-adjustment to the home context. However, remember that you did eventually successfully adapt to the host culture and that this can be achieved once again at home with determined focused perseverance.

5. Act positively

Remain focused on positive opportunities of the return home and avoid becoming an annoying comparative critic of your domestic culture, especially in relation to food, lifestyle, the cost of living, and social opportunities experienced in the host nation. Indeed, such constant comparative criticism will further antagonise people and increase their reluctance to interact with you on a positive basis.

6. Explore home

Another positive action is to position oneself as an explorer and researcher of immediate home environment that involves attempting to understand reasons for the changes in the physical context and interpersonal behavioural expectations. Moreover, some experienced returnees even recommend the initial adoption of a tourist perspective to regain a sense of excitement and interest with the home environment.

7. Become local

A key element of becoming comfortable in the home culture is to gradually build a sense of belonging again. One practical approach is to establish a familiar presence in the immediate home location. The initial steps include a commitment to select a few local shops for everyday purchases rather than impersonal supermarkets and regularly frequent a place like a café to become visible while feeling part of the local community.

8. Develop routines

After this, it is essential to become more integrated in a home context by establishing functional and manageable routines in all the key areas of daily life. However, be highly flexible and prepared to tweak these routines until you are confident that they match your needs and are sustainable.

9. Rebuild networks

Next, be conscious that one of the primary triggers of reverse culture shock is the sudden realisation that previous personal networks of colleagues, family, and friends will have now moved on and will no longer be as familiar to you as before. This sudden awareness of the new social reality can also prompt a feeling of isolation and sadness. Therefore, the returnee must be proactive yet patient and selective in gradually building a new network of relationships in key areas of everyday life.

10. Set goals

Moreover, the returnee can also actively engage in positive confidence building by setting small achievable goals that can help facilitate a progressive path towards eventual re-integration. This behaviour will also signal a more proactive perspective on the home experience that would be appreciated by significant others.

11. Share experiences

Additionally, do not be afraid or shy about reaching out to other returnees that have prior experience of the return phases and the challenges of re-adjustment to the home context. Sojourners who took the step of sharing experiences while seeking advice report that the experience was practically helpful, motivating, and comforting.

12. Remain patient

Finally, especially during the early period of the return home, it is crucial to remain consistently patient both with yourself and others, which helps significantly with the management of key challenges of the re-adjustment process. Moreover, maintaining a calm composure also minimises the onset of the debilitating experience of stress that can be triggered by a sense of frustration with what can often appear to be slower than anticipated progress towards reintegration in the home context.

To conclude, in the blog next week, we will review personal and professional development abilities acquired while successfully living overseas for an extended period.