Providing for Yourself and Your Country

The best thing you can do for yourself when you return back to civilian life, is find a purpose and a goal.  The many issues associated with this initiative can be very difficult to ensure success, but your goals should start out simple, and should be a daily regime for you.  Here is how to find a peaceful mindset each day when you return to Civilian Life:

1. Be sure to keep a daily journal

One way to keep yourself on task, is to write down how you are feeling, what is motivating you to find success each day, and what you are searching for.  You may need to look for one goal, whether it is getting a job, or to help your family, or start a new educational path.  You are going to find the larger the goal, the harder it will be for you to stay on task. But, if your goal is very lofty, like the ones described, you can break them down into many parts:

Educational Goal:

• What school should I check out?
• What subjects am I interested in?
• I can pay for some of the classes, so how do I pay for the rest?
• When do classes start, and when do I have to apply?
• How do I find out about financial aid?
• When can I meet with a career counselor?

Job Goal

• Where is the local job board to assist me?
• What kind of role do I want to play, full-time or part-time?
• How much money do I need to pay the bills?
• Am I happy with just working for paying bills, can I do more?

Family Goals

• What can I do to be more of help?
• How has my family suffered while I was away?
• Do we need to plan a vacation together?
• Can we afford to move into a bigger/smaller/better home?
• Can I learn a new task/new job while adding to my family?

WOW!  You really have your work cut out for you, don’t you think?  It is hard to think about all of these answers all at once, but you may need an entire year to come up with the answers to the questions above.

Just like when you were in service, keep a scheduled day

The key to success, being happy as a civilian, is taking the regime of the military life, and incorporating it into your daily civilian life.  Break each day down, write down your questions/answers, and keep up with your journals.

What do you think, can you find success this way?

Returning back to civilian life is a constant struggle of new unanswered questions.  Do not expect it all to fall into place immediately!