Another deployment day has arrived. Big deal, right? Each day drags into the next. One after the other.
It can be easy to get stuck in a deployment. To focus on how much time you have left, and what you are missing. But celebrating the small wins can go a long way toward helping you through that time apart. Here are a few things you can celebrate during your spouse’s next deployment.
1) First month down
Let’s face it, the first and last months of a deployment are the hardest. That first month especially. You might find yourself walking around the house, missing every part of your spouse. It can be draining.
But once you hit that one-month mark, something happens. You can see you are one month down. Even with so many more to go, that’s an accomplishment.
2) Personal wins
Deployments are a great time to work on your own personal goals. So celebrate when you complete one of them, no matter what it is. Maybe you wanted to start exercising, and now you are in a great routine of it. Maybe you wanted to go back to school, and you just signed up. Maybe you wanted to read 50 books this year, and you just finished that goal. Whatever it is, celebrate!
3) First time doing something alone, you usually don’t do
I am sure there are things you are used to doing with your spouse that you now have to do alone. Maybe it is grocery shopping, maybe it is driving back to your hometown. That first time might be a little scary, but celebrate it when you do it. No matter what it is.
Deployments will force you out of your comfort zone. You will have to do things you don’t usually have to do. Celebrate when you do.
4) When you find your people
Finding people to do deployments with is so important. But sometimes, that takes some time. But once you do, there will be a moment when you realize you have found your people.
You might be sitting at a coffee shop, you might be at a park watching your kids play, and then it will hit you, “these are my people,” and what a special feeling that is.
5) The halfway mark
Knowing when you have reached the exact middle of deployment might be impossible, since dates keep changing. Once we thought they would be home in June, and they got home in November instead. But you will probably hit a point where you know you have already hit the top of that deployment mountain.
When you know that you have gone through more days than you have left, and you can celebrate that. It’s a significant deployment milestone. Have a get-together with your friends, organize a potluck, and celebrate how far you have all come.
It might feel like there is nothing to celebrate about a deployment, but there is if you look for it.
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