Quote:
Originally Posted by EnglishDave
Hi Waves,
I have nothing to offer but support and a little understanding. My negative self esteem and identity issues are directly related to a total lack of love and emotional support during my developmental years, though.
I did spend 1/3 of my first 12 years living in the abnormal fishbowls of small Military Camps abroad, even living off base for a while. At that time it was more integrated with the local community than today. Coming back to this Country after just about 4 years was a Culture Shock, even at that age, so Heaven knows what turmoil you are dealing with.
I simply hope you can reach some sort of peace within yourself.
Dave.
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Dave,
The military household thing certainly does have similar issues to mine. That Wikipedia article even points out how military careers tend to produce TCK's.
There are some differences too. You had the issues of your father's safety, which I did not. You also had frequent moves to brand new places, while I only moved between familiar ones. On the other hand, I believe experienced a much deeper cultural split precisely because of the continued intimacy with both cultures.
But we both did experience that cultural split to some degree, and we both experienced the instability of our home moving or threatening to move. (We only moved back and forth twice, but I kept being told that a permanent "return" was imminent, or that I'd go to boarding school in England soon (didn't btw). Anyway point is I never felt we would stay put, even though we
mostly did.)