When the Going Gets Tough: Part 3 (Giveaway/Link-up @ AWN)

June 7, 2017 by

All good things must come to an end– but not before we go out with a bang! Welcome to our final installment of tips and tricks on how to survive (and maybe even THRIVE) when the going gets tough as milspouses. (Just joining us? Check out our previous posts in this mini-series by clicking here and here.)

Today, my tip for toughing-it-out survival is once again pretty simple. My go to when I start to feel a bit cray-cray? Get. Some. Rest. 

It might sound impossible, but I learned that “rest” can come in a variety of forms, not just catching up on the eleventy-billion hours of sleeping you feel like you are behind on. Yes, it’s true that I do try to take some kind of “nap” several days a week. Much against popular believe, a nap does not need to be 3 hours long to be effective. Even just laying down for 20-30 minutes will do wonders for my body and soul.

Rest can also be shutting off all the noise in the house and just breathing deep for a few minutes. It could be forgoing the to do list and heading to bed right after the kids hit the hay. Try to take things off your “list” to free up a little more space for margin in your life. We are a single-income household and when we were recently preparing to birth our second kiddo, we pulled some strings to outsource the “house-cleaning” a couple times a month. Now I have clean toilets AND my stress level is so much lower… AND I have a little bit of time to rest instead of worrying about how long it’s been since I vacuumed.

But again, don’t just take my word for it. Check out the final (awesome) tips contributed from our AWN milspouse viewers like you by clicking the following link:

When the Going Gets Tough … 

PS: Don’t forget to enter our giveaway and link up!

Going get tough, I get Jesus,

 

 

“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” ~2 Corinthians 12:9

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When the Going Gets Tough: Part 2 (Link-up & Giveaway)

May 3, 2017 by

You might recall that last month, we kicked off a mini-series about what to do when the going gets tough as a milspouse.

We had such a good time with it, that I didn’t want to stop there. So today, I will be sharing another one of my personal “coping” tips when things are harder than normal for our military spouse lives. And of course, we will also take another look at some great ideas shared by our AWN fans!

So here is my monthly tip on how I deal with life when the going gets tough… I get busy– “Sharpening my saw.” 

No, friends, I don’t get all lumberjack and start building a cabin. But I do take leadership guru Stephen Covey’s advice and take a time-out to sharpen my saw.

Here’s the premise: Two woodsmen are out in the woods, you know, doing woodsmen stuff. (I assume this means chopping down things.) Both are under a deadline to meet a quota. One of them stops periodically to check his blade and take a few precious moments to sharpen it. The other one keeps sawing away, as his blade gets duller and duller. Who do you think is going to be more successful (and less exhausted!) at the end of the day. Yep, the one who stopped occasionally to sharpen the saw.

I do the same thing as a military spouse. My motivated to-do-achiever-self-instinct is to keep frantically pushing forward until I feel like the wheels are about to fall off. But I have learned that the smart thing is to take a break every now and then… Do something that fills my souls and recharges my heart.

It could be huge and profound like taking a couple days away by myself. But that only *maybe* happens annually– if I am lucky. I CAN do something ever couple days or so to sharpen my saw: Read a book for fun, drink a hot tea and watch a show on Netflix post-bedtime, Zentangle,  close my computer and take a couple of hours to window shop downtown, get a “fancy” yet simple lunch and dine by myself, grab a quick coffee with a friend or even drink a Coke Zero in the parking lot of Wal-Mart while scrolling Facebook for 15 precious minutes.

But don’t just take my word for it. See what other suggestions our AWN follows had to say about…

When the Going Gets Tough … by clicking HERE.

I don’t know about you, but this is super motivating (and a great reminder for me too!) What do YOU do when the going gets tough?  Jump in and leave a comment below. (And don’t forget to this month’s giveaway!)

Until next time… Keep calm and soldier on, my friends.

Proud to be a soldier for Christ,

 

 

“You armed me with strength for battle;
    you humbled my adversaries before me.” ~Psalm 18:39

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Tough as Nails

September 27, 2011 by

God sure is a sneaky (awesome) dude sometimes.

You may be asking yourself what I mean. Well,  I had another moment from this weekend at CCC’s Women’s Retreat that involved God not only working overtime but also revealing some cool new “tools” in my ministry arsenal. Apparently, I can paint fingernails. Who knew, right? Not this girl. [Read more…]

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