How I Overcame my Cultural Identity Crisis

In this video, I break down the concept of culture and identity, my personal challenges growing up feeling like I was stuck between cultures, and how my realisations and the concept of intragroup marginalisation helped me acknowledge and overcome these thoughts.

Growing up in an international community in local Hong Kong, I struggled to identify with a culture my whole life. I perceived myself to be different from others because of my upbringing and ethnicity. But the reality is that cultural identity does not define your personality; it only makes it stronger. Accepting ambiguity helped me take my first steps towards acceptance, and to see my differences as a blessing. And nowadays with the world so interconnected, can you truly still be unicultural?

I hope that this video can provide comfort to others going through something similar, and hope that it resonates with some of you.

Table of Contents:
0:00 - Intro
0:31 - Growing up in Hong Kong
2:22 - Feeling stuck between cultures
3:52 - Overcoming differences
4:03 - The concept of intragroup marginalisation
5:01 - The courage to be disliked
6:15 - My personal realisations
7:10 - What even is culture?
8:47 - Outro

Enjoyed this? Watch more:

A bit about myself:
Hey guys! I'm Matt, a junior doctor 👨‍⚕️from Hong Kong working in London in the UK. I've had so many incredible experiences as a doctor and my journey to getting where I am today and so I decided to try put them somewhere: this channel is it! I mostly post about my life as doctor but I put out educational content about things that I think I have something worth sharing, such as about studying, medical school or productivity.

Connect with me:

Resources used: Epidemic Sounds, Videvo
Tags: cultural identity crisis,overcoming cultural identity crisis,what is cultural identity,how culture affects your personality,cultural identity,studying in international school,international school,studying abroad,living in hong kong,hong kong,living in a new country,moving to a new country,cultural identity speech,cultural identity theory,cultural identity explained,cultural identity meaning,cultural identity development,cultural identity definition

[mattbklee]

I'm really glad to be able to open up and talk about my cultural differences. These videos might not appeal to everybody but I'm okay with that - I hope this resonated with some of you 😊

[faiiyaa]

Thank you for this. I am full Filipino but was raised in another country. My mum raised me by herself and stopped teaching me my native language because she was always working all the time and so I could be apart of the culture I live in now. As I got older, the confusion of my cultural identity has become the biggest burden in my life. One thing that really pushed me to embrace myself was when my mum said “You don’t understand my culture” once in an argument. That phrase has kinda stayed with me throughout my life as ofc it hurt. Her culture is my culture.

[kamalove]

Culture identity crisis is so real. I am an immigrant in Canada and my husband was born in Asia and grew up in Canada. I can see his struggle to fit in and has no sense of community. He is not included by local white people, nor he can fit in immigrants group...I really feel a sense of loss for him. That feeling of belonging to a group is really great.

[andrewm.]

My realisation part hits me. Being an ethnic minority even in my native country, I always feel alienated growing up not realizing that my doubt and the need to fit into society starts within me and that eventually affects my self-esteem. But the good thing is since I ain't a part of the majority, I learn to appreciate and accept the differences we have in society. Thank you for bring these matters into attention Matt.

[jezzachu]

As a bit of a third culture kid myself, this one really resonated with me 🙌🏼 I think being between two cultures gives us a unique understanding and awareness, and allows us to objectively analyse the various elements of our cultures. This insight helps make us stronger and more unique, and if we own it, people will dig it!

[SastaTansenOP]

I am from India...


So, my father was a Military Personnel, So we literally had to move to a new place every 3 month because of his postings on different places...
And because of that I had to change schools & languages very often... (FYI, I can speak 3 languages fluently because of this and also know 7 more that are not really fluent)

And in schools, Whenever a teacher/student would ask "Where are you from?" I LITERALLY NEVER HAD AN ANSWER FOR THAT WHEN EVERY OTHER PERSON NEARBY KNEW "Where was he/she from...
And it was always so so embarrassing for me... I got bullied cause' of that.... And never really got to connect to a specific cultural identity.

This video was literally SO SO RELATEABLE FOR ME.
Thank you so so much for this video Matthew! ❤️❤️
You literally changed my life
🥰❤️

[HungWillie]

So true! Thanks for sharing this! Cultural identity's always been a struggle for most if not all international students, and it definitely takes a lot of courage to put this all into words. Sometimes it's difficult to breakdown what is "missing", but I think you did a tremendous job. This video really helps others (me included) understand that being multi-cultural is not necessarily a bad thing, and a lot of the perceived issues that we experience is a "me" issue that can be overcome. I'm proud of my cultural identity :)

[danielsevell]

I have had a very similar experience. Grew up in a South African household in Greece, when most of my friends were from all over the world! When I moved to the UK, I was 16 and I also felt out of place. However it all worked out, now I am studying medicine and have integrated well with my medic friends! Thanks for sharing

[pinoygq]

I feel ya thanks for sharing. I’m Filipino but born and raised in Virginia. Where I live was definitely diverse but mostly identified as American Filipino. Then moved to California I real wanted to identify as Filipino American but not growing up in the Philippines or speaking language many Filipino friends said I was not a true Filipino. Which hurts, I still struggling with it and acceptance is hard thing to embrace. That’s my story, good luck.

[ryanle]

Im 31 years old. born and raised in the greater seattle region to vietnamese parents. Cultural and the environment your surrounded in is the factor of ones self-worth in life and overall health. Hearing your story I just vibed with so well cause despite the difficulties you faced you seemed to have found a balance in your life your good with. Thank you for sharing your story.

[filmfauxtos]

Great video, Matt! I think culture and cultural teaching is so important for medical students. It's a shame students recently haven't been able to do their elective abroad. My medical elective was spent in Malaysia with my friend who was an international student. It was such an amazing insight into his life but also I only then fully understood how different his life was before UK and how challenging it must have been for him to move to the UK for uni

[MalikeDiary]

I want to thank you greatly for sharing this. I really needed it. As a foreign student living in Korea independently from age of 18, I have been dealing with such issues for almost 5 years. Now that things seem to be getting better and better, I can say that self-discovery and contemplation along with school consultation was the cure for me.

[thebookishkhmerican]

I can definitely relate because I have a mixed identity, but the most important identity for me is my Cambodian American identity. However, I have never felt Cambodian enough or American enough. I live in Hawaii which is pretty isolated from much of the US mainland and our community is very small. We don’t have any Cambodian cultural programs here such as learning the language or dance, so I feel there has always been that piece that has been missing in my life. I have found a language learning community in Cali that I am able to log in remotely and we occasionally have community gatherings here and there, but it would be nice if the community was larger and there were more opportunities to learn about my culture in the state I’m living in. Cultural identity is something I think about all the time, but the struggle of it is unfortunately difficult to talk about with others about and not everyone understands or can relate to it. Thank you very much for your video!

[aink]

Very relatable video! I’m a final year medical student at Bristol. I’ve come to the same conclusion through years of reflection. It has definitely been a journey - one that I’m still on. Keep up the brilliant content!

[khanhluong]

Hey just want to stop by to say I'm also studying medicine in the States but grew up in Vietnam and have been struggling with this. I just imagine that there is a small group of us foreign-born doctors who are often asking these philosophical questions because we are empathetic and curious by nature. I wouldn't trade my "golden ticket" to leave Vietnam and be able to study medicine in a more resource-rich country, but it does come with this cultural identity crisis. I hope you are doing well! Thanks for sharing :)!

[linwong]

Bruh, the way you talked about this felt like I was hearing someone verbalize all my thoughts and insecurities. I'm a local hker, but because of a few factors (ethnically chinese parents but with canadian education/westernized culture, international school, insecurities about being bad at chinese leading me to reject trying to learn it as a child, such regrets), I never feel like I can call myself a local. I feel so disconnected, but it's not as if anyone is bullying me for it, it's a cultural separation I feel in my bones. The moment I open my mouth, you can see it on the faces of shopkeeps and fellow students that "ah, this person isn't one of us" sort of look in their eyes, subtle but very apparent to me. I want to feel like I belong to my people and culture, and it really hurts that I don't feel that way. I feel ashamed because I've lived here my whole life, so I _should_ know the languages fluently right?

The idea of being okay with my current identity is something that never crossed my mind, that maybe it's fine to be unique in this very particular international school kid culture. Something to think about.

Still though, I know now that I really need to shape up my Cantonese and Mandarin, conquer myself and my fears to reconnect with my heritage. Try to remember that the perpetual ache of alienation far outweighs the sting of embarrassment of making mistakes when conversing.

Thank you so much for making this video. It really helps organize my thoughts and understand what I'm going through.

[jwlee]

Hey Matthew, thanks so much for sharing this video. I am a British Born Chinese and I have struggled with this problem for many years. I have never found a video that resonates this much with me personally, especially since I will also be a junior doctor later this year and I feel an added pressure to be be perfect on top of all of this. Thank you for sharing your advice on how to overcome these thoughts and emotions! All the best for future content on your channel and in your career.

[zosmanovic]

This should be on front page. It applies to alot of people, ...especially now

[liang]

Very insightful and thank you for extracting that nice information from the book! I am also studying abroad and this helps me to improve and settle down!

[Carstoast]

Very glad I came across this. I am black white and Mexican almost perfectly even. However, I am so out of touch with the black and Mexican side that I feel alienated from my cultures. I am progressing however. Got in touch with some long lost family and they made me feel so loved and welcome that I feel obligated to learn about their culture… well my culture. So I am learning Spanish and learning about Mexican, South American culture on my own and I hope to really impress them with how much I learned and how much Interest I have in this the next time I see them.