The Immigrant experience; long-trauma and healthy healing.

What is it about being an immigrant that could make life more challenging than for others in society? This post is dedicated to all those immigrants whose experience in their own countries was intolerable and worse unwelcoming. Just like me.

Welcome to the world of the unknown and building incessant resilience. Observing and becoming aware of the life events that arise due to trauma that occurred during formative years or the adjustment to a “whole new world” in adult life not at first filled with wonder, takes not just awareness and the ability to jumpstart a new reality yet the ability to manage the unpleasant stories that are forever part of life and release themselves into our subconscious whenever they feel it is appropriately so.

I was around 8 and a half when a jeep filled with militiamen and machine guns drawn drove up the driveway of our property to take my dad to prison. He was considered an enemy of the state because he slaughtered his own cattle to properly feed not only the family yet neighbors as well.  The major betrayal was when it became known that the person who turned my father into the Cuban militia was the very person that was my father’s trusted friend and neighbor. My dad was arrested in June of that fateful year and we received our exit papers (during what was termed the “Freedom Flights” that left the island daily landing refugees in Miami from 1966 to 1973) in October of that same year. I wouldn’t see my father again until March of 1972. Trauma: Abandonment.

The Cuba of the 1960s was witness to the systematic destruction of a blossoming society into one of forced communist rule, the stripping of the self as an identity, and injustices being committed upon the populace. Here I was at 8 and a half having my father stripped away from my life and carrying the effect of loss, loneliness, and general distrust of what would be my emotions in other people’s hands. There was however, an excellent role model, my mother, who would encourage feeling “feelings” and therefore the active practice of recognizing and labeling emotions, that emotional growth remained untouched, however, the creeping in of loneliness, that vague feeling in the lower side of my abdomen still pops up from time to time. In the picture you see her smile, she always smiled. She knew she had escaped the tyranny of the Castro regime, a tyranny that still cripples the tropical paradise to this day. Go figure. Thanks Mom and Dad.

There were countless families forced to start new lives in strange new surroundings and establish or continue to build that which had been stripped away. Enduring through these experiences and working twice as hard for each step forward, however, takes its toll — a toll that is felt both socially and economically. Unbelievable that this type of “war mentality” and inexcusable behavior is still a major trait of many world leaders of the day.

Life goes on and it is always in session filled with uncertainties the automatic triggers of fight or flight. Despite the “damage” I did okay. I went to school, built resilience, and constantly moved on, and perhaps at times not pushing past those feelings may have helped get me through a tough time, yet it took time and effort to understand the consequences of not making healthier choices since at the time it was just what we had to do. Move on.  

“Refugees didn’t just escape a place. They had to escape a thousand memories until they’d put enough time and distance between them and their misery to wake to a better day.”  – The Separated Child Foundation

Immigrants, refugees; the challenges are different.

Among the troubling frames of mind is that of Financial security. Financial security is paramount among immigrants and that feeling of constantly striving “to arrive,” even when you already have, can be distracting and unhealthy. One familiar constant among the offspring of immigrants is when their early childhood years are filled with uncertainty, and they learn excessive responsibility at a young age, later in life it seems too risky to pursue a career in the arts or other professions without a “guaranteed income.” Many immigrant children have to spend time translating documents, making phone calls on behalf of their parents, finding relevant information, and generally providing support when needed; excessive responsibilities, they grow up too fast.

Trauma can lead to where the lack of skill to identify complex emotions becomes an intellectual exercise with limited opportunity to promote growth and change. The long-term effect of abandonment, for example, is that left untreated, abandonment can cause immune-related dysfunction in addition to a lack of coping skills, coupled with unfettered resilience which can easily turn into states of denial. The Immigrant experience can be equaled to going down a disorienting rabbit hole and obstacles can feel nearly insurmountable and that burden can be felt for generations.

Many people today, not just emigrés, are living a life where “not going there” or avoiding ill feelings is making them sick and limiting their healthy, enriching path to longevity. We find that a lack of structure in life can set people on a path of automatic responses to stories that are constantly being carried on in our minds to establish the consistency, or habits that our brains thrive on. Consistency, or the lack thereof, can set our subconscious self, our inner child, into an unfettered temper tantrum. 

The practice of Holistic Health is all-encompassing and helps a person move into a state of being that is physiologically healthy, leading to a state of loving compassion for the Self which subconsciously becomes the cue for making healthy lifestyle choices.

Curious or have questions about the philosophies of Holistic Health? Contact me at drsixto.me/contact. Also, make sure to sign up for the newsletter and future blogs!

For further information on how you or a loved one could benefit from a Holistic Wellness, Whole Health path, please do not hesitate to contact me at sixto@drsixto.me

To your Whole Health and Wellness, naturally!

Dr. Sixto J. Sicilia

Holistic Health & Nutrition Practioner

Founder, issimoUSA (issimousa.com)