The reality of reverse culture shock | Episode 69

Moving back to the place you came from can feel harder than leaving it. When everyone around you still remembers the old version of you, how do you keep growing without shrinking back into who you used to be?

Anusha Kannan gets brutally honest about the hidden emotional cost of returning to her hometown after time abroad- not the logistics, but the identity whiplash of walking into familiar rooms where people think they know who you are. What starts as a reflection on homecoming turns into a relatable breakdown of what happens when your old life and your new self stop fitting together.

you'll listen to things like:

Why coming back home can be more disorienting than moving abroad in the first place

The trap of “performing” your old self around family, friends, and familiar routines

How social media and online visibility create the illusion that people are tracking your transformation

The difference between the old self, actual self, and ideal self

Why pretending is not neutral & how it can quietly keep you stuck

The role of filters and boundaries in protecting your sanity, standards, and direction

Anusha also shares the internal fight of being in-between seasons - too changed to live as before, but not yet fully aligned with the person she wants to become. She explores the grief of outgrowing a version of yourself, why old environments pull you backward, and how to stop over-explaining yourself when other people’s expectations don’t match your reality.

This episode is for anyone who has ever moved, returned, changed, or felt like they no longer fit the version of themselves that other people still expect. If you’re navigating identity, boundaries, reinvention, or the uncomfortable middle of becoming someone new, this conversation will hit home.

Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/6RHumWcF9Vs

Read From Zero: https://fromzerowithanushakannan.substack.com/

Let's connect:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anusharameshkannann

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anusharameshkannan/

Who even am I? https://www.anushakannan.com/

0:00 Intro: one year back in India

0:25 What I thought the hardest part would be

1:24 What I didn't expect

2:20 Walking into rooms where people think they know me

3:35 The assumption I kept making about people watching me

5:12 What I got wrong about that

5:58 Something I started doing without realizing it

6:42 Stuck in between seasons

7:29 Why my brain won't let this go

8:50 The pretending isn't as harmless as I thought

9:53 A framework I keep coming back to

11:46 Outgrowing a version of myself

13:16 Why the in-between is the hardest part

14:58 The first thing I'm doing about it

15:22 The second thing

17:47 The third thing I'm realizing

19:12 Letting go of needing to explain myself

21:20 Letting people be who they are

21:59 Where the real work happens