By Sue-Ann de Wet

Adaptation is often misunderstood. It is equated with becoming quiet, being less, or putting aside your unique habits and values ​​in order to fit in. For many people, especially those who find themselves in a new environment, adaptation feels like a loss of identity.

But true adaptation does not mean losing yourself. It requires self-knowledge.

Adapting means learning new unspoken rules: how things work, how people interact with each other, and what is expected in a particular environment. It requires you to listen, observe, and learn. But it doesn’t mean you have to give up your history, your language, or your values ​​in order to be accepted. True adaptation doesn’t happen when you become less of yourself, but when you confidently find your place in a new space.

This is where someone’s mother tongue plays a silent but powerful role. When people feel they have to hide their language in order to fit in, adaptation becomes a form of inner loss. But when mother tongue is recognised as part of your identity, something that carries you rather than holds you back, it becomes a source of inner security.

When you give yourself up for the sake of fitting in, it’s hard to feel like you belong. It’s based on constant vigilance: Do I fit in? Am I too different? This tension leads not to connection, but to exhaustion. Your mother tongue, on the other hand, offers a space where you don’t have to explain or defend who you are.

Adjusting in a healthy way begins with an inner certainty. It is the knowledge that you can learn, listen and grow without losing your core. That you can learn new languages, discover new habits and build new relationships, without becoming less of yourself.

There is a difference between respect and giving up on yourself. Respect requires that you are open to others; but silencing your own voice requires that you give yourself away. Respect builds sustainable relationships and creates space where identity and adaptation can coexist.

At AfriForum Worldwide we believe that sustainable adaptation begins where people recognise their roots. When language, culture and values ​​are lived with confidence, adaptation does not become a loss but an expansion.

Adaptation does not require you to give up on yourself.

It is the ability to be yourself, also in a new world.

Also read: Strengthen your family ties across the oceans