After the third relocation I realized that my breakdowns had become a normal recurrence. I had a history of arriving at each duty station with a negative attitude. I continued to experience the cycle of “I’ll hate it while I’m here…I’ll love it when I leave.”
It wasn’t until one of my PCS breakdowns that I realized this scenario was all too familiar. It was like a movie my daughter wanted to watch over and over, and I wondered, “When will this change?”
I knew that my husband was at 12 years and planning to do at least 20 years, so this cycle of moving would change no time soon, unless I changed it.
I recognized that I put so much energy into my disdain for moving and so little effort into working to appreciate my journeys. My mentality had caused me to miss out on great undertakings that each duty station had to offer. I decided then that I would change my plan of attack. I would arrive at each new duty station and make the best of it.
This meant that I would not keep the same routine every time we PCSed. I had to look for the new and the good, I had to move my mind.
Since that epiphany, I have changed my attitude and I have found that each duty station affords me different and more exciting opportunities than the last. These opportunities have little to do with each location itself, but rather how I envision it and act on it.
At each duty station I slowly adjust faster and thus each PCS move has slowly become a smooth transition, aside from the month(s) of no furniture, no cars, hotel living and no idea of where to go.
If you decide to keep negative thoughts and expectations of every new duty station, then rest assured you will receive your expectations. However, if you decide to look for opportunities that can make your new location a wondrous experience, you will have a limitless amount of possibilities every time you PCS.
Whether you physically move this summer or not move your mind to a positive mind set so that you can enjoy your duty station here and wherever else this military life takes you!
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