Excellent post. I have recently gone through a really relevant experience. As an EU national in the UK I have been confronted, over night, with a rejection of my value as a human being. This has led me to suffer stress, anxiety and I have doubted my self-worth in the face of continuous narrative saying I am less worthy of safety and good quality of life based on my nationality alone. What is specially relevant is that I made this clear to my colleagues, expressing my distress at the fact that British nationals (and I am generalising here) are not expressing support proactively making us feel deeply unwelcome, and most of our interactions involve being told we are exaggerating, we should stop worrying, because we will be ok. This has resulted in my work colleagues putting a complaint to management, who told me I must stop talking about it because it is a political issue and has no place in the workplace.
This is, to add depth to the problem, happening in a healthcare environment, where the dissection of body from mind continues to be deep seated. We need to move, as a society, towards much better understanding and tolerance of feelings that others experience but that we do not understand. And stop trying to 'help' by telling them it will simply 'be ok' instead of acknowledging it as a natural process and 'their' experience.
Thanks for the thought provoking post. Upvoted and followed!