By Jenna Moede
Hello! I feel thrilled to be back writing again and look forward to sharing the military life experience and college student experience with everyone again after being gone for so long.
Last year my husband, an active duty airman, received orders to PCS from Wyoming to Oklahoma. The orders excited us, but they also surprised us too. We had been told we would stay in Wyoming for a while so we felt shocked when they came.
When we moved to Tinker, everything changed for me. My job, my husband’s schedule, my comfort level and our plans. I had hoped to iron out the kinks before I jumped back into anything like work or school.
To say it took me longer than I expected to adjust would be a huge understatement. While we had moved across country before, this was our first real PCS, and I don’t think I was fully prepared.
I let a lot of my goals slip when we first arrived, like getting my master’s degree. I had picked a school, a program, and been accepted, but the timing scared me with the move so I backed out.
Because of the time change, teaching ESL was too difficult so I gave that up along with writing too. Instead of trying to find something to fill that time and keep pursuing the final goal of teaching, I wasted it.
Even long after everyone was settled, I continued putting my goals on the backburner. Somehow it just felt a lot easier to push them aside as a “to do” later.
I didn’t network, I didn’t make friends, I didn’t get involved, and I didn’t give myself a huge chance to have a life separate from the one the military created, and even though we have had fun touring Oklahoma and vacationing, I lost a full year of pursuing what I want as an individual.
Somehow in my mind I let the temporality of the situation define what I would make of it.
Now that I realize that I didn’t have to put everything in life on hold, I am now trying to remember some of my own advice for what I did during our last move so I can take control of this situation and go for it before we run out of time here and PCS again.
I remind myself constantly now that perfect timing usually doesn’t happen for me, but I can create the right time if I’m willing to put in the work and confront the situation head on.
I had to stop putting off the big decisions because our life didn’t really feel real. I had to realize that things will always keep changing, but that doesn’t mean that I can treat everything like a vacation.
The first step for putting myself back on track was starting my master’s program which I have finally done. I love learning about teaching, and I look forward to each day in the classroom. Plus, it feels so good knowing that I finally quit procrastinating!
In the past I have let my own insecurities stop me from chasing down my dreams, and this last time I let the military life slow me down. This time I am determined not to let anything slow me down, and I will remember that change doesn’t mean that real life stops.