Showing posts with label cope. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cope. Show all posts

Monday, July 12, 2010

If life were easy...Where would all the adventures be?

We've all been there at some time or another. Whether it's every day life, deployments, kids, the car....the list goes on. That time when we feel like everything is going wrong.

How do we cope when we feel this way?

Some people through themselves "pity parties" and stay that way for a long time. Others have a small "pity party" for a day or two and then get in gear. Focus on the positives or figure a way to make the things that are going wrong, right.

As some of you may know, Google is my friend. I love Google. This is what I've found and hopefully it will help some who read my blog.

When everything goes wrong:

1. Laugh. ~ Laugh hard and laugh often. Laugh like there's
no tomorrow. Laughter will put you in a much better frame of mind to deal with life's interruptions without losing your sanity. Read some funny jokes, watch a funny movie, spend time with a friend who keeps the laughs coming.

2. Breathe. ~ If laughter isn't possible, and sometimes it just
isn't, then focus on your breathing. Breathe in and out, in and out as deeply as possible until your pulse stops racing or you let go of the throat that somehow found its way into your grasp.

3. Regroup. ~ When the walls are caving in around you, take five minutes and figure out what you can do to keep at least one thing moving forward.

4. Give thanks. ~ "What? Give thanks? Are you insane?" Grab a piece of paper and make a list of everything that you are thankful for - chances are, you have it better than millions of others.

5. Get out. ~ Get out of the house and out of the office. Whether you choose to go for a walk, have lunch with friends, go window shopping (leave credit cards at home) or browse the shelves at your local library, get out and enjoy yourself for a
bit. You'll return in a much refreshed frame of mind and ready to tackle whatever life throws your way.


Something I found to be true...

Murphy’s Law(“Whatever can go wrong will go wrong at the worst possible time.”) manifests itself in a multitude of ways in our lives. In fact, there are times when it seems that EVERYTHING is going wrong. How we react to those situations says a lot about our character.


Photobucket

Photobucket

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Some ideas to help children get through deployments ~

**One thing I make sure I do is take lots of pictures BEFORE my husband deploys. This is good for a few things.

1. For infants/toddlers, you can make a small a photo album for them to play with. Put pictures of them with their parent who is deployed in it so they recognize their face when they come home.

2. For older kids, they can make themselves their own scrapbook with the pictures and write their own captions for them.

3. You can have bear made with a shirt on it that has a picture of the child and deployed spouse.

**You can get a poster board and make a map for your child to hang in their room, or anywhere in the house. Circle where you live and where the deployed parent is. Maybe use a thumb tack to track the parent getting closer to home with each day that passes by. Use a calendar with this for the child to count down.

**You can also have the deployed parent make a voice recording for their child. Just a regular recording, or one that can be put in a stuffed animal, or make a video of the parent reading a book to the child before they leave.

**Let the kids communicate with their deployed parent. Little ones can draw pictures and send them. Older ones can write letters, or like my kids, they have emails for this purpose.

**Keep a routine!! Kids with a routine will feel less stressed because they know what to expect just about every day.

**We love using the web cam too! Even if they only get to see him for a minute or two because of a bad connection, they still love it. Getting to see him and knowing he is okay is a major boost for them.

**Journals or video diaries may help too. Your child can keep a journal of things they want to share with their deployed parent when they come home so they don't forget anything. Video diaries would serve the same purpose.

These are just a few ideas I think are good. You can "google" to look for more good ideas! =)