One of the hardest things about emigrating is having to work in areas that you didn't prepare for.
Did it happen to you or is it happening to you?
In my six decades I have lived through two processes as an immigrant, and the feeling I have always felt is one of anxiety. Being in a country that is not one's own, but being in a country that you are learning to love, respect and take care of, and even without knowing very well the history of the country where you are, we generally have diverse ideas in politics, social and economics very deeply rooted derived from our experience.
And those experiences are usually bad, and that's why it gives us a lot of anxiety when we see similar things in the countries to which we emigrated.
For example...
It happened to me that I worked as a receptionist at a restaurant after 20 years in Industrial Management. I experienced the anxiety of the immigrant...
It was a stressful situation, gastronomy is one of the closest areas to Moderna slavery with a black job and long hours but I have some good memories, I met super interesting people and I could have beautiful photos and friends of my experience there.
I saw the positive side to all that, as a different life experience.
I discovered that my work does not define me, my values do. Now with more strength and resilience I am very clear that we can always reinvent ourselves until we reach that place where we belong.
It is a complicated process, especially for many Latin Americans who have told us that the only way to success are material achievements through a university profession or important job, it is de vir a company "little hen of golden eggs"
I also remember that...
One of my daughters, when she cleaned the first house, ended up crying, she was about to return, she sold her jewelry, at that time there were almost no Venezuelans in Madrid. He was a nanny, cleaned houses, yachts; he was sacrificed, but I enjoy it.
After a year he had assumed it, he was independent, living in one of the best tourist destinations and enjoying experiences that he knew in his country of origin he could no longer achieve.
Sometimes I question myself and say am I doing it wrong? What am I doing here? I understand that everything is transitory.
So, we live trying to get away from what we have left, and we see with anxiety that things can happen, or things that we have already experienced before can be repeated. I feel that anxiety, it's the anxiety of the immigrant.
I think my reflection is that the best thing is to focus on our life, to be protagonists of our existence, and to try to live together as best as possible in the communities where we are.
Above all, it is very important to take care of the country where we have arrived, and to be the best citizen possible.
To learn the history of the country we have arrived in, to understand its idiosyncrasies, and to understand that our experience is not necessarily their experience. That clarity gives us objectivity, and somehow reduces our high levels of anxiety.
.
Janitze 🌹
Separator made with Canva by @janitzearratia
Any images in this post are taken with my iPhone 12, the Infinix pro-note 30 or with the camera eighties Rolleiflex 2.8 f, and edited by me with Canva
Translation with |DeepL