I’m a “third culture kid”

I recently came across the term “third culture kid.”

It was first used by Ruth Useem to describe people who grow up outside of their parents’ home country and end up forming a kind of “third culture” that isn’t exactly one place or another. And it was one of the first times I read something and thought, that actually explains it.

Growing up, I never really questioned the fact that my life didn’t fit into one clear category. It just felt normal to move between different environments, different schools, different groups of people. But at the same time, there’s always been this underlying feeling of being slightly out of place everywhere. Not in a negative way, just in a way that’s hard to explain.

When I’m in Sweden, I’m Swedish, but also not fully.

When I’m in an American school, I fit into that system, but I’m not from the U.S.

When I’m somewhere new, I adjust quickly… but I’m still aware that I’m adjusting.

It’s like you’re always a little bit inside and a little bit outside at the same time.

For a while, I think I saw that as a disadvantage, kind of like I was missing something that other people had: a clearer sense of identity tied to one place. But now I see it differently. Because being a third culture kid also means you learn how to adapt. You learn how to read a room quickly, how to understand different perspectives, how to connect with people even when you don’t share the same background.

And those things matter more than I realized at the time. It doesn’t give you one clear identity…. but it gives you a lot of ways to understand the world.