One of the more stressful and perhaps more challenging of difficulties Essays

One of the more stressful and perhaps more challenging of difficulties Essays One of the more stressful and perhaps more challenging of difficulties Essay One of the more stressful and perhaps more challenging of difficulties Essay One of the more stressful and perhaps more challenging of difficulties that I face in my everyday life is the language barrier. Being from a non-English speaking country, life becomes much more difficult for me here because of the preconceived notion that all Asians do not speak English very well. While I do not experience the same difficulties when writing in English, the experience is much more difficult when I am interacting and speaking with others because of all the idioms and slang that is used.A perfect example is when I try to interact with people from the support group. What would be a simple matter for some becomes a very difficult task for me. I oftentimes find myself waving my hands trying to explain my point while the others stare idly at me as if I am some kind of crazy person. It is not only stressful but humiliating as well.Another problem that I experience because of this language barrier is the fact that I often find it difficult to find people to talk to just to allow me to de-stress, so to speak. While other stress related problems can easily be addressed by communicating with others, my problem does not provide me with such an alternative and emotionally, such a problem can be very draining. The few times that I do find the confidence to communicate with others also leads to be fruitless because of the biases that certain people have against people of my race and our English speaking abilities.While I am part of a support group that should theoretically allow me to vent my frustration on this matter, this language barrier makes it even m ore difficult and stressful. I understand that the members of the group would like to reach out and help me but the added stress they are exposed to when communicating with me makes it difficult. I cannot simply assume that I am the only one with difficulties and given my shy nature, I would never be the one to impose even if such were the case.It therefore came as a pleasant surprise that I was able to find a person in the group who made it easier for me to gain social support. The conversations were awkward at first as both of us struggled to grasp what the problem of each was. There was a certain uncertainty that followed on how to address the problem. The emotional strings attached made it difficult to tiptoe around the language barrier, initially, but soon enough progress was made.I guess that the reason the exchange went well was because of the mutual respect that we had for one another. Unlike the other people that I previously dealt with, my social support partner tool pains in understanding the handicaps that I was dealing with. Instead of ridiculing me or criticizing me outright, she tried to encourage me to speak up without fear of reprisal or humiliation. I must admit that this made me feel more confident about my problem and in doing so also allowed me to reach out and help with her problem. The wonderful intercourse that we were able to have did a lot to ease the tension. Though we started out as being distant from each other, over time that gap was bridged through steady and effective communication.As mentioned in the tips for the exercise, even the smallest problems can provide stress. I definitely feel that my problem is not that small but I realize that in the grander scheme of things, it probably is. Be that as it may, this experience was very helpful for me. While I may not have tried out my new found and developed confidence in my English speaking skills, I can confidently state that I am one step closer to overcoming my problem.I could ha ve never gained such confidence if it were not for the help of the social support partner. Being in a foreign country can be a very difficult and challenging experience. The new cultures and languages and the fact that I am not as proficient in them as I would like make adjustment very hard. Thanks to my social support partner, however, I have taken a major step toward my stressful problem. I do not think that there is any more that I could ask from the help that was given. The opportunity to be able to reach one to somebody while someone was also able to reach out to me was a wonderful one.