"I'm the first generation in my family to do many things because of their efforts. The first one to get a formal education, to travel to countries where we don't have any relatives, and to have the luxury of free time. To my family, I am the bridge between what was survived and what is possible. When I say first-gen, I'm not referring only to the children of immigrants."
"I'm talking about anyone raised in a family where the focus was survival, not expansion, whether because of poverty, systemic barriers, migration, and or limited access. If you grew up as a first-gen, you may have heard similar comments. They were made to motivate you, but tucked into the words was an unspoken mandate: Go further than us. Show us it was all worth it."
Parents in immigrant and survival-focused families emphasize that sacrifices were made and expect children to advance beyond past hardships. Visible signs of sacrifice include physical calluses and fatigue. First-generation children often become the first to access formal education, travel, and leisure, serving as bridges between survival and possibility. The label 'first-gen' applies to anyone raised where survival, not expansion, was central because of poverty, systemic barriers, migration, or limited access. Families convey an unspoken mandate to 'go further,' which motivates achievement but also creates cultural shifts, new interests, and surprising family misunderstandings and guilt.
Read at Psychology Today
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