Relationships Tips

Your Beloved Soldier Is Coming Home - Now What?


Your Beloved Soldier Is Coming Home - Now What?

Laura anxiously anticipates the return of her husband Dan. What will it be like and what should she do? After all, he is not returning from a successful business trip or golf weekend. He is coming back from war. Should she arrange a romantic just-for-the-two-of-us event or a family reunion? This is the first homecoming experience in their young marriage. It has been over a year since Dan left. Little Maja was born 3 months ago and Dan has yet to meet his new baby girl. Laura, once shy, dependent and overweight turned into self-reliant and confident woman. She had joined the gym, lost weight and signed up for computer classes. Even though Laura had missed Dan terribly, she adapted to being a military wife. They had kept each other up to date through e-mail and phone calls. Dan will be surprised to find how much has changed since he left.

How do you deal with the challenges of homecoming? Relax and accept that homecoming can be difficult. In getting ready for the big day, put your own needs aside and help your spouse reconnect with the life he or she left behind. The real challenge is life after deployment. Historically those fighting in combat have a much greater likelihood of relationship break-ups than their civilian counter-parts. Depending on how devastating the war experience has been, your soldier may not be the same person that you saw off. Your spouse could have witnesses others including children or comrades die. He or she may have been forced to kill in the line of duty! While your soldier may not share all of these experiences with you, listen with empathy if he or she does. Even though your life was clouded with fear during deployment, don't compete for the most wounded heart. After the big homecoming, you might be anxious to get on with life as a couple, but find each other at different junctures. Returning from a country at war, every day life may now seem trivial to your spouse. He or she may suffer from post-war trauma or guilt.

Here are the two of you trying to pick up where you left off. This is the critical point where military couples set the stage for a spiral breakdown or deeper love. How do you prevent your relationship from becoming a divorce statistic? Simply be what people in exceptional relationships are: Fit 2 Love! Do what people in exceptional relationships do: Become better for each other every day! By following the 3 principles of being fit to love: mutual respect, moral responsibility and authenticity you can turn your relationship into a solid anchor. Here is what these principles mean:Mutual Respect: Exercise true mutual respect instead of self-serving respect. In real terms this means your partner is just as important as you are. Respect how your homecoming soldier feels. He or she has gone through a life-changing phase while serving, an experience the two of you did not share. Cherish the new person that has emerged. Accept his or her altered perspective on life and be open to learn from it.

Moral Responsibility: You are always morally responsible to your partner. Everything you think, say or do affects your partner. Sometimes you even have to think of your partner first. Yes, you are responsible for each other's well-being. Be kind, loving and understanding. Allow for time to heal the wounds. Be sensitive and encouraging when you help your partner get on with life. It is your job to be an anchor.

Authenticity: Be you! Create and be the best of you. Be better for each other. Be honest about your own feelings, but don't blame each other if your relationship is going through change. It could also be a change for the better. Depending on how you react, crisis like these are often the kick-start for more authentic and more solid relationships. Take your cues from your heart, for it will never betray you.

Think back when you wholeheartedly committed to your partner. Did you commit to respect and be morally responsible to each other? Did you commit to be the best you could be for each other? Sure you did and now you have a chance to do all that and do it better. While your soldier's homecoming will definitely fill your heart with happiness, the months after can be very stressful.

Here are some tips to make military love stronger:

· Don't be anxious to get back to everyday life
· Allow for re-adjustment
· Become acquainted again
· Respect the different person he or she may have become
· Don't try to make up for lost time
· Accept that things may be different
· Don't have unrealistic expectations
· Talk to each other openly and listen with empathy
· Don't be surprised if your sex life is uneasy at first
· If you have children be open and reassuring
· Spend quality time with your partner and as a family
· Don't be controlling or manipulative
· Learn to make decisions together again
· Keep the faith; you need each other more than ever.

© June 2004 Allie Ochs, Relationship Expert, Coach, Speaker and Author of:"Are You Fit To Love? A Radically Different Approach To Successful Relationships" Website: www.Fit2Love.com E-mail: allie@fit2love.com

Allie Ochs is a speaker, relationship coach and author of: Are You Fit To Love? Her book has received the honorable mention at the USA 2004 Best Book Awards. She has appeared on TV, Radio and is published in numerous magazines and newsletters. Visit her website http://www.fit2love.com and take the Fit 2 Love test.


MORE RESOURCES:

Boston Teens Pick Top Ten Healthy/Unhealthy Relationship Songs of 2011
Patch.com
Boston teens worked with the city's Public Health Commission to choose "Marvin's Room" by Drake as the unhealthiest song (in relationship terms) in 2011. By Boston Public Health Commission Drake's "Marvins Room" was chosen as the Unhealthiest ...

and more »


PsychCentral.com

Optimal conversation lowers stress in relationships
Times of India
Young couples who easily engage in rewarding conversations with their partners, experience less relationship stress and higher satisfaction, say researchers. According to research from Kansas State University, young adults who have optimal conversation ...
Going With the Flow of Talk Brings Couples CloserPsychCentral.com

all 10 news articles »


Relationships Art Exhibit at the SCAHC Gallery in Sussex
NorthJersey.com (press release)
In the Relationships Art Exhibit, the Sussex County Arts and Heritage Council is asking artists to explore, well, relationships—any relationship. And what seems to be a traditional subject for art can prove to have numerous possibilities when viewed ...

and more »


When he's bad, he's awful
Boston.com (blog)
I have been in a relationship for almost 1.5 years with a good-hearted guy that I'm in love with. We're both in our mid-20s. We have been through a lot together, and we live together. We have a lot in common and I can see a bright, loving future with ...

and more »


At NRC Hearing, Signs Of Improving Relationships
Fox Business
However, it offered several hints that personal relationships on the five-member commission may be improving less than two months after they boiled over at a pair of congressional hearings. The tensions have raised questions about the nuclear safety ...

and more »


Relationship abuse rife in Queensland: study
Brisbane Times
A damning new study has found 33 per cent of Queensland women in relationships were psychologically or economically abused by their partners, while 13.1 per cent suffered physical, including sexual, abuse. The report from the Queensland Centre of ...

and more »


Rockman column: You can have winning relationships
The Daily News Journal
As our journey in life continues to expand and evolve, we will encounter many new faces and new opportunities to build relationships. But keeping healthy friendships in our lives isn't always easy. It involves honest communication, understanding and ...

and more »


PsychCentral.com

Depressed Adolescents More Likely to be Bullied
PsychCentral.com
By Janice Wood Associate News Editor Adolescents who suffer from depression are more likely to have problems with peer relationships, including being bullied at school, according to a new study. And while it is often assumed that being bullied leads to ...
Depressed adolescents likelier to be bulliedTimes of India
Depressed adolescents more likely to be targets of bullying: StudyHealthJockey.com
Expatriate Insurance News: Depressed children 'more likely to be bullied'Expatriate Healthcare
U.S. News & World Report -Medical Daily
all 45 news articles »


Unforeseen relationship challenges
Daily Monitor
But there are others that will be revealed when you are married and one must know how to deal with them before they ruin their relationship. Jenina Kataibaka, a mother of two cannot hide the smile on her face when narrating about her life while she was ...



Forming stronger relationships with your doctor
KFVS
While some recent studies indicate a lack of honesty between doctors and patients, locally both parties say that should be a sign it's time to work on stronger relationships. They say no matter how embarrassing, unusual or scary your symptoms are, ...

and more »

Google News

home | site map
© 2010