Migrating at an Early Age

In a loose definition of the term, culture refers to the values, beliefs and norms shared and held close by a particular group of people. For this reason, the particular culture we are in influences the way people live, learn and relate to the world. The culture that a person is born in also largely shapes the individual’s personality. Theories such as that of cultural relativism comprehensively explain the relationship that lies between culture and personality. This paper seeks to document that it is possible to gain positively by travelling to new places and experiencing life there.

There are a number of reasons as to why moving to another country to study can help an individual grow and become a stronger and more confident individual. Moving abroad gives the individual the chance to experience personal growth. By living and experiencing life in a different country a person gains an entirely new understanding of their personal heritage, values and culture. With time, the individual becomes more independent, self-reliant and self-confident as the person learns to maneuver in an entirely new culture.

When an individual moves into a new country by him or herself there are a number of situations that the individual will have to navigate through. For instance, there will be a natural need for friends after missing the company of the friends back home. Getting new friends will not only help the individual see the world differently but they also provide a diversity that the individual wouldn’t otherwise experience. The individual will also experience a significant growth in self confidence since the experience will show something that the two never knew about themselves.

More new friends also mean that the individual’s network is expanded around the world. During the times of studying the friendships and relationships that an individual makes can turn out to be the most significant relationships that he or she ever makes in her life. What this means is that the individual will be able to learn a lot about the technological advancements and improvements that the other countries experience all around the world. The relationships, insights and outlooks are important when it comes to the aspect and experience of travelling and studying abroad. The networks involving the students, teachers, host families and professionals is often important and with the opportunity that leads to newer and greater opportunities.

Another aspect of personal growth is the ability to broaden their experiences by travelling internationally. Only after going into another country is it possible to see how the country fits into humanity and how it looks through the eyes of a different culture especially in comparison to the native culture. Learning the traditions of the new country helps the individual to see which ones are important and worthy of keeping and which ones should be disregarded and better ones found. Similarly, the person will know what to adopt and what to keep from the new culture.

The challenges involved in the process also inspire personal growth. No matter where a person is, if he is not at her home chances are he is out of his comfort zone. With being outside the comfort zones comes obstacles such as homesickness spending and using foreign currency as well as simply living in an unfamiliar place. These are challenges that will eventually be overcome and with the accomplishments will come self-confidence and complete beliefs in one’s abilities.

Moving to a new country also gives the individual a chance to grow professionally. One of the professional growth areas that an individual will benefit from is the ability to look good in an interview.

In most instances, employers look for people with more experiences as well as those who have been challenged before. The more an individual experiences especially out of their normal setting gives them examples and real life situations that work towards their strengths and work ethics. A new country also helps with discovering new career paths. The experiences abroad are able to inspire a person’s life in terms of the direction they take in terms of their career goals and objectives. For instance, a person from the Arab countries might experience the freedom of choice and ability to make money from anything and change into doing what he wants.

In most of the mentioned countries, the futures of the individuals are predetermined by the parents. In situations where parents do not directly tell their children what they want them to study, the parents make insinuations that will let the children acceptable and unacceptable circumstances. Being with people from other cultures opens the person into dealing with people from other cultures which means better ability to deal with people of diverse backgrounds. People from the same culture have the same outlook on life, same expectations as well as a similar way of doing things. Although it means that the people will be easier to manage and work with, it will eventually be difficult when someone from a slightly different culture joins the team.

Moving and living in a new country helps the individual to gain valuable life skills. Immersion into a particular company helps the individual to learn and master the country’s language socially, academically as well as professionally. Interacting with members of country’s native also helps the individual to have a greater respect for members of the other culture. This is important since it helps the individual able to work in a team of diverse backgrounds without any difficulties.

When one moves into another country such as the U.S, he or she will be able to make the most out of their day while being a full-time learner as well. Apart from the classes, the experience of being in new territory, seeing new ways of lives and meeting new people will mean that the main thing immediately after landing in the new country would mainly be learning. As a matter of fact to most of the people, who have studied abroad, the lessons are mostly outside the class as much as they do inside. The weekend, for instance, can be covered visiting new sites that could both be historical as well as cultural. In those circumstances and instances, even activities such as grocery shopping become educational experiences that the person could learn.

Another life skill is that of becoming more fluent in another language. When the individual is immersed in a new culture and language, there are chances that he or she will learn the new language at one point or another. Learning such languages is important because it will improve the communication skills that the individual possesses. With this, it will be possible to communicate with members of other countries or communities. This will be advantageous when there is need to do everything outside of the community that the individual lives in.

Movement into the new countries makes it possible to fight the stereotypes through educating the people about what their community represents. In most cases many people are exposed to new cultures through the media which might not be the realistic view. The opportunity to study abroad is also one to educate the other groups about the community as well as learn about them. For instance, the television might portray American people as lazy and unappreciative, but it is only after going to the country that it can be possible to know whether it is true or not. After being sure of this it will then be possible to know how to interact with the people with the new information.

The movement into the new country is also important because it helps strengthen the individual’s leadership skills. The different cultures also and countries have different leadership styles and whereas the new one might not necessarily be superior it will be a different one and might be superior at a different time. Working with the different styles of leadership and business will help the individual gain the experience that comes with working with a diverse team. Studying abroad also helps to see the different global issues from a variety of perspectives which helps in the making of better decisions.

Some of the qualities that a person gains from travelling into other countries can be important in helping an individual to develop leadership characteristics. First of all, going out of one’s comfort zone helps them to be able to handle different situations which in turn will make him or her able to handle many similar situations in the future. In case one of two people are considered for a promotion, the individual with more experience in diverse situations will have a significant advantage over the one without. The ability to deal with people who have different temperaments, expectations and world views helps a person work productively with members that are from diverse backgrounds. This is an important necessity in leadership positions such as the presidency where the individual will be working with members of a diverse culture and way of life.

Another important leadership trait that the individual can develop as a result of travelling to a different country is self-confidence. Due to the series of challenging situations that the individual is exposed to and his ability to navigate around them, they will end up developing a confidence of their self such that they will eventually be able to trust their abilities more. With this level of confidence, an individual will not fear success and will in most instances go for what he thinks he can succeed and rather than what he is told to by others. Although many people might not see many things as possibilities, the experiences of the individual will make him trust himself more. The experiences can also come in all forms of little or great achievements including successfully making friends, getting lost and finding their own or even being able to master the basics of the native language which includes English.

A person who is widely travelled is also more likeable and thus able to be a charismatic leader than a localized leader is likely to. Travelling not only exposes the individual to interesting cultures but interesting personalities too. For instance in America, there are people who are sarcastic but in a humorous way while there are also immigrants who come with their separate personalities gained from their respective countries.

Granted, some of these experiences and personalities will not in any way be desirable or positive, but still a significant portion will be positive. For this reason, adopting characteristics such as good story telling abilities as well as humor and set objectives can make an individual become a charismatic leader. This is a trait that the individual can easily employ in their goals and objectives and use it to inspire other individuals with whom they have the same goals. Similarly, the individual is exposed to situations that make the lives of the people fascinating to a certain extent.

Staying at the same place throughout the life of a person makes them monotonous and their lives dull. Although many people are talented and with a significant ability to bring change in their different areas of work they happen to be sucked into a routine every day which makes it impossible break out. Although routine is important for getting things done, it does not look well when the routine is forced as opposed to optional. An optional routine is important because it makes it possible for the individual to take time off, learn something completely different as well as relax and come back rejuvenated. The difference in nature will make it possible for people to discover more about themselves and their lives. This in turn helps them to apply the different aspects of their lives.

Travelling also improves the ability of an individual to be mindful especially to the little details. In their destination an individual who loves learning and travelling will experience the constant need to pack and the challenge of leaving items that he must have developed the ability to pay particular attention to detail. With this type of preciseness, it will be possible for the person to make plans with as much precision.

The organization system that helps the individual to travel successfully is the same one that the individual can be able to apply so as to be able to achieve their objectives successfully. Similarly, the travelling individual goes to great lengths to ensure that they make their plans in accordance with their destination and what they expect. Similarly, leadership gets the individual to plan according to a set outcome . If the plans are legitimate, the leader sticks to it and the conditions remain as planned it will be possible to achieve the desired outcome.

The leader will also be able to learn how not to take things for granted. In most instances many people do not take what they have for what it is. On the contrary, many take for granted the many different resources and opportunities that they experience in the different places they live in. for instance, an individual who goes to the U.S. will learn that the underdevelopment that is rampant in their place is an opportunity to not develop the place and improve their quality of life.

Travelling to other countries also improves the worldview that many people have. Although world views are shaped by life experiences they have the ability to shape the people’s approach to life to a significant extent.

Worldview refers to the perception, interpretations, understanding and response to the realities around them. In a conflict-oriented worldview conflict is considered to be normal and acceptable. This is a worldview that is experienced by people in the Arab as well as Middle Eastern countries. In this world view, it is acceptable to physically fight an opponent as long as it is to protect what they believe in. In such a worldview, the thoughts, feelings and actions of an individual are characterized by conflict. Everything in this instance is measured and evaluated in terms of the degree of conflict. For instance, if an individual accidentally steps on another and the victim demands an apology, the offender’s first thought will be how big the other person was. If the individual is a big person who is almost impossible to fight he will then become humble and then apologize.

In this instance, the individual coming from the Arab countries into the U.S. might at first have difficulties in avoiding fighting. However, when they are finally able it becomes possible for them to adopt the view of the native America which emphasizes the respect of another person’s space. In such an environment, an individual can be charged with various levels of assault including aggravated assault which can get to a level where it is a first case charge. When the individual comes to the new environment, he will obviously notice the lack of violence amidst the development and understand that it is not necessary to fight for things to continue happening.

In some cultures, it is considered important to beat the wife so that she would be able to understand her place in the home and society at large. For an individual who does not get out of their community, the culture will be a way of life that is acceptable and logical. However, once he or she gets out of their local community he will see that the other countries, cultures and communities do not believe in this way of life and are yet to be doomed.

The process of moving into a new country is one that can positively influence an individual’s personality and help the person become a more confident and stronger individual. For a person coming from the Arab or Middle Easter countries, for instance, there are a lot of lessons and experiences that will able to positive influence the individual. One of the positive aspects of going to live alone in a new country is the positive effect it has on personal growth.

With the exposure to new heritage, culture and values help the individual appreciate these other ways of life as well as their own native way of life. Similarly, travelling to America helps individuals to gain life skills that are valuable such as the ability to communicate socially, academic and professionally. Other life skills are the abilities to travel into new territories, make new friends as well as remove the language barriers that bar interactions at first. Travelling also ensures that an individual gains significant leadership skills which include the ability to focus on the little details and ways of organization. Similarly, he comes in touch with a number of personalities and life experiences which in turn his personality to become more likeable.