Hi,
I'm Barry Zworesteen and welcome to part 3 of Which way is your warrior facing?
An operational manual for current serving and veterans transitioning into civilian life.
Today we're going to start off by looking at transitioning to civilian territory and redefining it as the next operational front.
You may be considering transitioning out of the military or in the process of transitioning or you may now be working out how to operate in civilian territory.
You may have already worked out that calling in an airstrike,
Setting up a complex operation or being responsible for millions of dollars of equipment in other men's lives may not exactly score up your desirability factor.
You've probably noticed that the military does not have any detailed maps of civilian territory either.
Successful transitions rest not just on adjusting your strengths to present challenges.
These can face you with a difference in fit between where you were and where you currently are.
To hold on to the past too tightly will restrict your capacity to open to your present.
Every step of the journey will require adaptation and flexibility.
Change can be challenging.
Your power lies in how you receive and perceive what is facing you.
Becoming fully who you are is also about letting go of parts of who you were.
It's your attitude,
Not your situation,
That determines how you progress forward.
Before you enter change,
Take time to regroup and assess and identify the challenges ahead of you.
Allow time for preparation at all levels,
Physically,
Psychologically and emotionally.
When you finally commit to moving forward,
Do so with focus and determination.
Be flexible and willing to adjust and adapt as required.
Your belief in yourself needs to be clear.
Identify and release anything holding you back or to the past.
Remember,
Attitude determines altitude.
Your intention needs to be clear and completely focused on the end goal of successfully transitioning between thinking and successfully doing change.
Intention fuels the ability to maintain movement in the face of adversity.
It fuels your drive to settle for nothing less than what you desire.
It sustains you in moments of doubt and despair and keeps you moving through the long night.
Without the ferocity of intention,
The fires of change burn low.
Increasingly over the years as I have been working with veterans and current serving,
The need to address the complex layers of transitioning out of the military has become critical.
Debriefs before discharge and even many current modalities or understandings around transition fail to grasp and address the potential complexity impacting men and women as they begin to think about and work towards leaving the military.
Over the years I have sat with competent and well-trained warriors struggling to redefine themselves,
Find employment that fits who they are and recreate a sense of belonging and purpose.
So just to summarize,
Point one,
Every step of your journey will require adaptation and flexibility.
Point two,
Your power lies in how you receive and perceive what is facing you.
Point three,
It's your attitude,
Not your situation,
That determines how you progress forward.
Point four,
Your belief in yourself needs to be clear.
And point five,
Without the ferocity of intention,
The fires of change burn low.
So remember and try to see that every obstacle is an opportunity and every challenge is a possibility.
We're now going to look at the warrior acronym and I want to note that I believe this is quite critical.
It allows you an opportunity to create your map and orientate your compass.
How you navigate forward will be supported by the time you are willing to give to understand your territory.
Slow is smooth and smooth is fast.
Let's begin with a self-reflective exercise as this will form the foundational awareness and your internal and relational map for you to progress with.
Here's a bit of self-reflective practice.
Before beginning this journey with me,
Reflect on the questions below what I call the warrior acronym.
W stands for what is your will to change.
A,
What is your ability to adjust and adapt?
R,
What is your respect for others and yourself like?
R,
What is your responsibility to yourself like?
I,
What is your integrity like?
O,
How observant rather than reactive are you?
And R,
How willing are you to repair negative relationships with others and yourself?
What may help you begin this journey is to create a map of your territory.
Divide a page into three columns.
The first column will represent territory you are very familiar with and resolved about working on.
These are areas you have targeted and dealt with.
In the second column,
You could label work in progress.
This column would identify things that you are currently working on that are still on the way to being resolved.
These could be personal fitness and lifestyle balance,
Stress or relationships.
You may be dealing with these alone or with appropriate support.
You could keep track of your consistency,
Commitment and efforts and note what is working and getting in the way.
This book can support you as you navigate through this territory.
In time,
You'll move some of these column 2 items to column 1 once you've resolved them.
Finally,
Column 3 contains the big ones,
The things you don't want to approach for whatever reason.
Examples of these could be alcohol use or traumatic memories.
This bit of territory is unlikely to be resolved by your effort or for that matter,
This book.
You will more than likely require professional support with this.
As I noted earlier,
Avoidance is often a vital issue here.
The challenge is that these areas will not just go away independently.
They can have a profound effect on your healing and progress.
Creating your map can help direct you forward as you progress through the book.
Before undertaking change or transitioning to new territory,
The core challenge and requirement is to map out your journey and ensure that your internal compass is in good working order.
I'd encourage you to take the time to think about these reflective questions.
Be honest with yourself and if it helps,
Make a few notes.
I'm just going to go through this briefly.
You can pause and maybe get a piece of paper and make a few notes.
So think about what is your will to change and see what comes.
What is your ability to adjust and adapt?
What is your respect like for yourself and others?
What is your responsibility to yourself like?
What is your integrity like?
How observant rather than reactive are you?
Are you willing to repair negative relationships with yourself and others?
And finally,
Just a short summary.
The core challenge and requirement before undertaking change or transitioning to new territory is to take time to map out your journey and ensure that your internal compass is in good working order.
Remember,
There is no such thing as an unwounded veteran.
However,
These wounds,
When healed,
Can be doorways into wisdom and strength.
