Does anybody else suffer from relocation trauma as a child and struggle to live a normal life?
My parents brought us to Canada when I was a kid. I remember being really happy in Iran. I had a big family and felt belonging. When we arrived in Canada I didn’t understand what anyone was saying. I remember being really afraid. Everything and everyone looked different and they were all like aliens to me. My parents didn’t have a lot of money and worked all day while my siblings and I attended school and came home to take care of ourselves. I was bullied really badly for being different. I never really had anyone else to talk to about what was happening to me at school and the teachers often treated me differently than the white kids. My parents took care of us but they didn’t know what was happening at school or ask about our feelings. My mother hated Iran and everything that happened to her as a woman there being stripped of her rights after the revolution. She didn’t want anything to do with the country anymore. She stopped teaching us the traditions and she never took us back to visit. She didn’t keep in touch with family which meant I also lost touch with all of them. I developed severe anxiety disorder as an adult. I feel like this transition has left me as a perpetual misfit. I don’t fit in with other Iranians here because most of them have more connection to Iran than I do and I’m just not Iranian enough. I don’t feel like I fit in with people here in Canada even though I’ve been here most of my life. Because of my anxiety I have a hard time sustaining intimate relationships due to my trust issues.
We moved to a freer country but now I have no family, no culture, and no sense of belonging. I guess I’m just reaching out to see if anyone else has had a similar experience? It’s very lonely here.