Immigration

Somehow the grass always look greener on the other side of the pastures. However on the contrary not all glitters are gold as well.

We humans are creatures of habits. We can be so comfortable with our life that we become so complacent holding on to our cozy lifestyle making us indifferent to any opportunity before us. We see no reason to change fearing the worst may happen should we decide to act. It is quite natural to feel nervous, anxious and uncomfortable when we are faced with a situation that demands decision to change the way we live. We fear of losing the things we possess and enjoy, we fear of the uncertainties in the future, we fear of losing someone we truly loved, fear of anything that may harm us and sometimes we even fear for no reason. Afterall, we are only human beings with feelings. However, because of the fear and thus the reluctance to take up any challenges in life and holding on to our possessions and cozy lifestyle, we loose golden opportunities for better things. It is like a statement I heard, "if you do not pull the trigger, you will miss the target totally". Take some risks!!!!

We are the creation of God and each one of us is created very specially with unique set of preferences and likings for things in this world. Therefore, each person's level of tolerance towards a decision process also vary from one to the other. To some, decisions making may be part of their working life, while some may take the decision process very differently. In the extreme case, some may even have sleepless nights when face with a tough decision. In scientific term we called it insomnia.

Making decisions in our routine daily living is easy. For example, the option to have sugar in my white coffee or the choice to opt for the white or blue blouse, etc. These are easy decisions to make. But when we are faced with the decision to purchase a house, then to many i believe is a big decision. A house to many may be the single largest investment made in our life time. So more time and thoughts are needed to make such decision. From my personal view, shifting/moving house can also be a very stressful exercise. That is why some people live and die in the only house they owned. Due to the high level of stress, people refuse to make a decision to move house. I've heard of comment such as, "moving house is the second most stressful thing in life, after divorce". I am only talking about moving within suburbs or maybe within states. Keeping this thought in mind and the already high level of stress one will face in moving house, I can confidently say that the level of stress to be many many more times higher when one is moving overseas for good.

Immigrating to other country can be a very very stressful event. The anxiety of migrants and uncertainties in the new country, the new environment, the languages, the people, their culture, the food, the way of life, etc are way beyond one can imagine. They are so many unanswered questions only time will help. These days, I must admit, due to the globalization and the ease in air transports, particularly the budget airlines have made the world smaller. The availability of internet access has unlocked wealth of information. As a result, people are more informed and educated. The stress in immigration is therefore reduced significantly.

Despite of these, migrants are still subjected to a tremendous high level of anxiety and stress in immigrating to other country. To some, immigrating to other country may be imminent for reasons only they can answer. So, please share your secrets in handling the stress level........