There are people in my life that keep reminding me of the waning time I have left in the Air Force. I know that they are well meaning, however when I am told that there is now less than three months before I retire and move, worry and anxiety peak. When you compare three months with the nearly 27 years leading up to this small amount of time, it really looks minuscule.
Worry and anxiety can grip me. Objectively I know that the family will be fine. We’ve moved plenty of times before, we have a place to live and we will have income, but the flip side of the equation is facing life outside of the military which I haven’t done for a very long time. There is the prospect of starting a business and wanting to succeed. There is also the stress of making a life back in the United States and all the changes that have taken place there in the past eight years. It’s a lot to process and think about.
I reviewed my list of ideas about how to deal with some of these emotions from my last posting and I will say I’ve used all of them with some degree of success. However, I need to add to that list that there must be some level of acceptance for the current state of emotion and that there simply will be times that I must sit with the emotion of worry and anxiety over not knowing what the future might hold.
Early in my military career the times of most anxiety for my wife and I were waiting to find out what our new assignment would be when it was time to move. It seemed like the personnel center took forever to make the decision and then let people know where they would be going and what they would be doing. Possibilities were not endless, but there was enough variety to create concern and wonder over where we would spend the next few years of life.
My current life circumstances seem to mirror these times. I know generally what to expect but there are so many unknown factors that it’s time to accept and be okay living with a certain level of discomfort by planning, preparing, and working hard to get the results that I want. These changes are happening, despite the worries, and I trust on the other side of the difficulty associated will be new and exciting opportunities.