Do Non-TCKs Want Us to Feel Ashamed??

Having grown up with a mixed ethnic background and never quite having perfected any of the three languages I was raised in, I keep encountering people who literally get angry with me when I dare voice the fact that I struggle to integrate or feel discomfort when I feel like I don’t fit in. They immediately take it personally or interpret it as if I’m insulting their own efforts/language/nationality instead of trying to empathize and have compassion for my struggles.

It makes me feel like all I am to people is this pesky problem to be resolved.

When I talk about insights I get from my mixed background or the good times I’ve had abroad I am met with jealousy or nationalistic anger. When I talk about ways I’ve struggled due to my identity? I’m constantly told I’m ungrateful or that /I’m/ basically racist/anti-whatever-nationality because I dare put words to the fact that I sometimes feel outcast and isolated by some type of xenophobia or racism.

Basically I wish I didn’t feel like my existence was a crime. I wish I was allowed to express myself authentically. I wish people were curious instead of fearful. I wish I had support instead of facing stigma all the damn time.