I've been in the USA for, you guessed it, two years.
The craziest thing about these two years, is how nothing has really changed, either in the world or with me.
Just kidding!
Who Doesn't Wish It Was Still Good Old 2015?
The answer, is me.
Even though these last two years have been hard and have thrown up way too many nasty surprises, I believe it's important to think positively. Ok, right now that's a challenge. Day by day, my (still) newly adopted homeland feels increasingly like it's buckling under extreme pressure. Between storms, shootings and Trumps, I'm doubtful of how much more we can all take.
Wow, to think I set out to write a piece with a positive tone. Maybe I should have written this last week, or even next week.
Still, despite the difficulties, in the last two years I've learned a lot. A lot. In fact, everyone in the world has learned a lot, except for the guy in charge of the free world, who hasn't learned anything. Anything. You may ask, “So what if we're more aware? At least we were happy back then!” But at the end of the day, I'd rather take knowledge over blissful ignorance. So 2015 me and everyone else, you can have your happy go lucky fun; enjoy it while it lasts. We're all suffering from sobering wisdom and wouldn't have it any other way.
This brings me to an incredibly startling fact.
The Most Important Thing I've Learned In The Last Two Years
Recently, a client told me to read a book about advertising. It was an eye opener and not just for the advertising advice. I had a sudden and stark realization about something vital to the human condition. It was this: that humans are naturally attracted to “quick and easy” solutions.
Literally, you can make something sell tons more if you just make it seem like a quick and easy fix for a pressing problem. You could say that “quick and easy” is itself a quick and easy solution for weak adverts. It would be like if I altered the title of this article to “1 Simple Way To Make Living In America Completely Hassle Free.” I'd probably get tons more clicks, just because I'd duped people into thinking that they could make their lives easier with basically no effort.
But “quick and easy” isn't the vitally important thing that I've learned. Funnily, it's the complete opposite. It's that there is no quick and easy solution. More than 9 times out of 10, “quick and easy” is a fallacy.
Want proof of this? Two words: Trump's election. He promised “quick and easy” throughout his campaign. “Healthcare will be so easy,” “Doing taxes will be so easy,” “I'll do this on my first day in office.” Make America great again was really just telling people that they only had to do one thing to make their lives better, which was vote for Trump.
How Does This Fit In With My Immigration?
As much as I hate to compare myself to a Trump voter, I have only realized in the last few months that to achieve anything requires the opposite of “quick and easy.” Achievements come after long and hard effort.
When I arrived in America, I thought that I would experience next to no struggle. How foolish I was!
In 2015, I had had a brilliant career. I assumed that moving the skills I had acquired would be a piece of cake, or to put it another way, would be quick and easy. This wasn't the case.
From the off, I stretched my skills. I gathered clients, worked temporary positions, did physical chores, adapted to new situations. Yes, some of those scenarios needed quick work, but none were easy.
I've come a long way but have by no means finished yet. Realizing that achievement comes after long and hard effort, ironically, makes the stress of life easier to cope with.
This time last year, I wrote “A year from now, I expect that I'll have started to forget what it was like to live in Britain.” Undeniably, this is true. This was a concern back then but less so now. I'm not passively forgetting what it's like to be British; I'm actively learning to become more American. This means adopting skills that are more desirable in my marketplace, while still retaining a strange, appealing uniqueness that's hard to find elsewhere. This change isn't quick or easy, but it's important.
Where Can I Go From Here?
Stereo-typically, the default answer would be that the only way is up. In the long term, I can see that this is the case. However, at the same time, it's more like an M.C. Escher painting. The only way is up, but you're going to have to go back, then sideways, then down, then sideways again to get up. I'm currently haranguing on a banister somewhere. I'll get there, hopefully, but we just don't know when.
Still, it's been quite a journey.