Wow! Today I squashed the procrastination bug, listed all the things that needed to be done in the next four to six months of my life and it’s a lot. You face a lot of change as a military member. Often there are frequent moves to different places and different jobs, and that in and of itself is challenging. However, as someone who is retiring and will not have a clear role to fill at the end of my next move this seems to add a level of complication, I’ve not had to face for over 26 years.
I have had to practice a lot of self-soothing and resiliency skills to talk myself through the worries and anxiety that seems to creep into my thinking when faced with so many unknown factors. There are decisions already made that do help to reduce the overall load of worry, but if you are like me the unknowns work their way into your thinking and take up a lot of energy in worry and concern. Here’s a few things I do to try and help with that.
Education and research – sometimes educating oneself on the unknown or critical elements of the problem can ease the discomfort of the unknown. Learning about the problem and other ways to solve it gives power when faced with the situation.
Act where you can – there are times when we get so caught up in thought we forget to act. Even though the list I created appears overwhelming, the mere act of writing everything down pulls the problems from my thoughts and creates a list of things I can actually work on rather than worry about. Are there any steps, even small ones, that will help resolve tasks?
Seek help – seldom are there situations that you face that others haven’t in some way dealt with before. Family, friends, trusted mentors or therapists can often help you set priorities and might even have information that will ease the worry.
Focus on success – don’t forget to give yourself credit when you make progress and move forward. Its often easy to become so focused on what hasn’t or still needs to be done that we forget to review how far we’ve come. Taking this step can instill confidence and peace when facing the other things that await you.
Change isn’t easy and the worries that come with it can make it seem daunting. Utilizing these and other practical steps in working through the unknown can reduce anxiety and build your resilience as you face the challenges of change.