It is currently November 2012. Everyday this month, I and many of my friends, have been posting what we are thankful for each day on Facebook. Why do we just wait for November?
Today is actually Veteran's Day. What does that mean? That means, today is a special day to set apart a small portion of our time to thank a veteran who sacrificed for our freedom. According to usmilitary.com, "Many Americans mistakenly believe that Veterans Day is the day America sets aside to honor American military personnel who died in battle or as a result of wounds sustained from combat. That's not quite true. Memorial Day is the day set aside to honor America's war dead.
Veterans Day, on the other hand, honors ALL American veterans, both living and dead. In fact, Veterans Day is largely intended to thank LIVING veterans for dedicated and loyal service to their country."
These men and women dedicated themselves for loyal service to their country! That means something to me. As the wife of one, that is pretty spot on! My husband is dedicated to his job and his country. I cannot have anything but pride for that!
So, how does that affect my positive thinking? I will admit, I suffer a lot from negative self talk. I know that I have a long way to grow on feeling good enough and doing the right thing. However, I do know how important positive thinking is.
I was talking to my mom the other day about depression. We talked about being happy where you are and the only one who can get you there is YOU! I know that is really hard to do that, but it is possible.
I remember going through panic attacks and depression while Rick was deployed. Before he was going I remember talking to my mom about the fact that he was going to a country with people who's job is was to kill him, and they had never met him. This was terrifying.
How do you get over that? I started thinking of the WWII wives who didn't even know if their husband was alive, where he was, what was happening, or anything of the like. This gave me strength knowing that if they could do it, I could do it.
I have been told that since I like Army life, my experiences and thought process about the Army is different. I would say, it doesn't have to be. Even if you hate the situation you are in, you have to look at what you can change about it. I knew that I could not bring Rick home, so I had to accept him being gone. I knew I couldn't go home to be by family all the time because I had to work, so I started to find things here that brought enjoyment. I started hanging out with positive people who would help keep my mind off things that were terrible and also understand my fear of Rick not coming home alive.
My dad calls these people "attic people". I love that idea. He says that you need to hang around attic people rather than basement people. I know, personally, it is easy for me to be a basement person, so I have to focus on the positive.
Positive thinking also helps in a marriage. When I stopped focusing on where Rick fell short and started to focus on where he exceeds my expectations, we formed a much happier marriage.
My goal this week is to focus on the positive, be slow to anger, and abounding in love. I know tomorrow is going to be hard because Rick is going to leave again. Halaina will be a wreck because she will feel abandoned, but I have to focus on the great weekend we had, the fact that he is growing as a person while he is gone, and that he will be home again in 10 days for another weekend. It is easy to focus on the fact that he has been gone most of the last month and will be gone for most of the rest of this month, but I know he misses us as much as we do him and we can do nothing to change the situation, so I am not going to worry about it.
Positive thinking! It's essential to any life.
No comments:
Post a Comment