I don't think I like peripheries

I was reading an article that my roommate gave me awhile back about adjusting to culture and maintaining your sense of self. This article was really good but it also led to even more questions too. What are the parts of me that should not change in order to maintain the integrity of who I am as a person, and what has to change to be able to live healthily in a new culture? You know what struck me even more? It says that even after you leave the culture and go back to your original environment that you don't go back to who you were before. You somewow remain on the periphery between those two cultures never fully reverting back to your original self again. That is kindove scary to me.