Transitioning from military to civilian life is an experience. If you or someone close to you has been serving in the armed forces and is now transitioning from military to civilian life, there are many adjustments that they will go through. It is a difficult situation for anybody to be in, and one that you will probably want to get whatever help you can for in order to ensure that you can do it as well as possible.
If it is your spouse or partner, then it’s useful to know how you can support them. During the transition back into civilian life, there are going to be many difficulties and challenges, and you need to try and overcome them. In this article, we will take a look at some of the things to bear in mind on that front and hopefully, they will help. My husband has made this transition once after he served 3 years in the infantry and will again in a few years when he makes the final transition as a retiree. It’s so wild to imagine this, but it is just part of the military life.
Keeping Busy
One of the most common feelings that people have, when they return from military service, is that they don’t know how to keep themselves busy. You don’t want to merely sit around, as that is unlikely to be very good for you anyway. But the good news there is that you can be sure the skills that you have learned in the military are going to be applicable to a wide variety of settings. In fact, people very often have a huge number of jobs that they can go into after service if they want to do something every day in order to feel busy. Or if you are keen to just spend some time with your family for a while first, then that’s fine too. Get to know your surroundings, some decide to go back home or to start a new life in a new location.
Staying Healthy
In all likelihood, you will return from service fit and healthy – probably the fittest you have ever been in your life. Most people will want to keep that up, and that is something that you can do as long as you are happy to put the work in. Staying healthy is all about keeping on moving and eating well, and it’s something that you can do easily as long as you have the drive to do so. If you need further help and advice about staying healthy afterlife in the military, you can always talk to some of the Consultants for America’s Veterans, who are well-versed in a range of issues, including this very one. My grandfather always had a saying, that “if he stops he doesn’t know if he’ll be able to get going again.” It’s always a good plan of action to keep moving because you want to continue good health.
Being Social
Chances are, you are also going to want to spend as much time as you can with your friends so that you can easily and enjoyably get into social life again. Having a social life is an important part of keeping yourself happy and healthy, and it’s a big part of returning to civilian life in a manner which is going to be enjoyable. Make sure that you are allowing yourself the chance to socialize as much as you want to – but never feel as though you should be spending more time with people than you want to either. Get that balance right, and you are going to be in a much better headspace after all.
I always tell my husband that he’ll be doing a lot of volunteer work with the American Legion and the VFW after he retires. The military often “volun-tells” soldiers to participate in certain events or with organizations and I think that the servicemember begins to enjoy being involved and that it will continue even when they are out of the service. I definitely see this as a good thing.
My husband is just about a year and half away from retirement. I think I’m excited…