9 Signs You Have Foreigner Burnout / Culture Fatigue

Culture fatigue—or foreigner burnout—is a season we all go through. Or, at least, I hope I am not alone in this.

I love to travel. I love adventures and finding new ways to connect with people. I don't mind feeling out of place or being the foreigner in the room. However, after years of being foreign, I began to feel burned out.

I think this is normal, and if we don't identify it, it can become destructive.

If it goes unchecked, it can start to rob us of the joy of our journey as expats, foreigners, or students abroad.

Here is a list of signs that you might be experiencing culture fatigue/foreigner burnout.

1. Excessive Homesickness

This homesickness goes way beyond what is normal. It is a consistent, lingering sensation of longing. When I experienced this level of homesickness, I realized I was even exaggerating how great my home actually was. I was caught up in a fantasy of the grass being much greener on the other side of, not just the fence, but the world.

I was able to overcome this homesickness by finally visiting home. I had been in Turkey for 2 1/2 years at that point, and needed to step back and be surrounded by familiar settings, family and friends.

Ever since, I haven't had such an excessive amount of homesickness. Sometimes I get a bit of longing for home, but it quickly passes without causing heavy and depressive moods.

2. Complaining.

This isn't the occasional vent session. This is word vomitting.

For me, it started small -- complaining about practical and totally understandable things. But then, I noticed that I kept complaining about these things. And then, I found myself complaining about anything and everything.

This is toxic. It robs you of gratitude. It prevents you from being able to have authentic, wholesome interactions with the culture, people or even your own everyday life.

3. Judging locals.

As the culture fatigues sets in, you may start judging locals for simply being themselves.

It's wild! One behavior that was simply different turns into something you can't stand.

There are things about every culture that we will not align with. However, there is a fine line between not aligning and turning our noses down at people.

For me, Turks can very dramatic.

It is something I have had to learn how to shrug off and not take personally. But, when I was caught in culture fatigue and burnout, I judged it. I thought they were reacting wrongly. I'd internally roll my eyes and dismiss their reactions without kindness or love.

I didn't mean to do this, but it caught my attention because that's not who I want to be. Overtime, I realized I had culture fatigue and needed to rest and reset.

4. Not wanting to leave the house.

Spending a day or two recharging is totally normal. But in the midst of my burnout, I wouldn't want to leave the house for up to five days at a time. This is a recipe for disaster because it made my heavy emotions worse. I was isolating because I felt so fatigued, but the intense isolation turned the fatigue and burn out into feeling of depression and sadness.

5. Loss of Wanderlust.

Part of the reason so many of us have left home for a land far far away is because we have wanderlust. We love to see new places. However, in this time of feeling fatigued by constant counter-culture exposure, we can lose that.

I think this is what turns into the excessive homesickness. Every ounce of drive I had to see the world, turned into a deep longer to just go home.

6. Feeling Easily Exhausted.

I am someone who can typically be out and about all day and truly enjoy my time. Yet, now that I live in such a busy city, I get so exhausted by venturing out. It's gotten a lot better but, when we I was fully in my foreigner burnout, I couldn't even go to the grocery store without feeling utterly drained.

This is when I began to realize that this fatigue/burnout I felt wasn't just me having a sour attitude. It was about my nervous system. Processing a foreign world everyday takes a lot of energy.

7. Feeling Easily Overwhelmed or Anxious.

   
   

I have traveled to 10 different countries on my own. I studied abroad as a teenager, and I have lived in states away from family ever since I graduated from college.

So tell me why, suddenly, a car horn could almost trigger a panic attack in me! I was shocked--utterly shocked--at how overstimulated I felt living in Ankara.

This wasn't how it felt at the beginning, but overtime, this brittle feeling settled in and I couldn't escape it. Again, I think this is literally our nervous system getting fatigued and burning out.

This anxiety sat in my body. It wasn't about my thoughts or emotions, but my body was simply tight. It felt like I couldn't take a deep breath for months. Yes, I was facing stress and challenges, but this anxiety didn't match those triggers. This was something more intense.

8. Bitterness.

I have seen this in myself and other foreigners. There is this nasty, contagious, awful bitterness that takes root and overshadows everything! I think this symptom shows up when we are trying blame the culture for our fatigue.

Instead of recognizing that the battle is internal, we turn against our host culture. We start becoming irritable, angry, bitter. We can't make sense of the changes inside of ourselves, and we can't separated the changes from the experience of being foreign. So we turn against the culture, the people and the place that had once welcomed us.

This is the destructive part of culture fatigue/foreigner burnout. It is the make or break moment--are you going to turn against your journey, or evolve through it?

I am really blessed that I have learned to introspect and reflect so much. Because when my bitterness showed up, I was able to recognize that that's not who I want to be. So, I was able to truly ask myself where is this coming from?

I spent a lot of time journaling this one out.

9. Constant Culture Comparison.

This was the catalyst for me. This is when it became obvious that I was stuck in something and not living my life from my joyful self.

I could not stop comparing my culture to the Turkish culture. And, I'll be super honest. In my bitterness, my culture always seemed superior.

But this wrong. Even if we don't agree with something about a culture, we can't chill out and assimilate to our life within that culture if we are always making a mental note of what's wrong.

This is an unfun place to be stuck in. And it makes us an unfun person to be around. It is a heavy thing to always have something negative to say about the people, the culture and the customs surrounding you.

I don't see typically people talking about culture fatigue or foreigner burnout. That is why I am not sure which phrase actually matches the best. But, I see foreigners, expats, people living abroad, who are buzzing with it all the time.

You can pick them out of a crowd. They have heaviness, a frown, and an airy attitude of superiority that is difficult to mesh with.

So, I am writing this blog to help shine light on this becaues I think it is something we can overcome. I think it's something we need to overcome, because, with a lifetime so short, who wants to sacrifice time and energy to hating any part of it?

And that's what this burnout turns into if it goes unchecked--a hateful attitude.

I've been there, so many people have been there, and we've overcome it. If you're stuck in this cycle, and need some guidance or encouragement, check out my youtube channel. I make content to inspire foreigners to thrive far away from home.

Additionally, I offer 1:1 coaching. I have been coaching women through mindset and holistic health transformations for 5 years. It is quite literally my passion.

This link will take you to the coaching page of this website where you can learn more and book a free consultation.

With much love,

Kayleigh