Living a Purposeful Life

It's an age old question - in a world that defines success by the amount of money we have or the things we own, how do we as military spouses "succeed" professionally within our transient military lifestyle? 

So often, we define our "professional" success by measuring how well we're doing on the career paths that we choose to pursue or would like to pursue given the opportunity to live in one place for any length of time.  It's easy to look around at our peers who aren't married to service members and envy their ability to climb that corporate ladder or chase after their goals in an unfettered manner.  Laying our resumes side by side, we might feel like we always come up short in the professional arena by comparison. 

Most of the military spouses I know and certainly those I've been privileged to meet through the NMSN are hard charging and ambitious, so it's easy to get frustrated about the needs of the military when you just wish those deployments and moves weren't such a factor in your career path.  In hindsight from my own experiences and from talking with countless military spouses who have very successful careers, there's a commonality that runs through their stories - rather than thinking of their career as a sprint to the finish line, they viewed it as a marathon.  As military spouses, it's very few among our ranks who are going to be taking a direct route to the top, but stretched out in the continuum of a twenty/thirty year career, the disruptions are manageable if you're able to keep a few things in mind.

• Education is never wasted. Sometimes when our situations can preclude us from working, we may look at the degrees hanging on the walls and think, what a waste; or lament at the credits standing between us and finishing our degrees because of the multiple moves. This is when it's important to remember that education is never wasted. You may not be using your degree(s) or knowledge in the way that you imagined you would, but your education helped shape the individual you are. Remember that education doesn't always mean the pursuit of a four year degree, nor does it end once you've achieved whatever degree or certification you were working toward. Take advantage of the free classes offered at the installation support centers to enhance your resumes or to stay up to date on new technology or skills. If you've developed an interest in something that you can't find on base, check out your local community colleges or adult education classes. If you're homebound taking care of young children, plug into webinars or online learning. However you do it, continue to feed your curiosity.
  
  
• Don't be afraid to try new things. I often envy my husband who has known he has wanted to fly since the age of 3. That clarity and sense of purpose helped guide the choices he made to become a pilot in the Air Force and continues to guide him as he nears retirement and looks forward to his next career. Not all of us are fortunate enough to be able to find our niche in life early on. More often than not, we find ourselves stumbling through life trying to figure out what we're passionate about. Here's the thing - that's okay. It's more than okay. Try lots of different things. You don't have to be good at everything. What's important is that you remain open to new experiences and explore different career opportunities through strategic volunteering opportunities, freelance gigs or whatever mechanisms work for your lifestyle.
  
  
• Find that balance between working passion and fulfilling your financial obligations. Being a responsible adult sometimes necessitates that we chase a paycheck and work at jobs that don't feed our passion. That doesn't mean you can't incorporate your passions into your life by pursuing volunteer opportunities to round out your professional experience. Not only will it allow you to feed your soul by doing something you care about, you'll find that balance between doing what you need to do to support your family and what you'd like to do - until you get to that day when the two become one and the same.

Don't gauge your success by how much money you've accumulated or haven't accumulated; the titles you have or haven't achieved or the size of the corner office you do or don't have. Consider instead that success can also be defined as a life well lived and that for military spouses that might mean crafting a portable career that allows you to balance your own goals and ambitions with your military lifestyle.