1. Transferring to a new duty station can be rough.
Between the financial cost, the PCS process and finding somewhere to live, there’s no shortage of hurdles to overcome but if you ask me, the biggest, most difficult hurdle might be not having any friends. I never knew how hard not knowing anyone would be, or how difficult it would be to make new friends, until my husband and I went through our first transfer together about six months ago. I thought I would be fine, needing only my golden retriever for support and to confide in, but it only took a couple weeks before I was crumpled on the floor, hopelessly sobbing into a box of tissues. The first weekend my husband had to work and I was home alone, yet again, after being home alone every day for the last two weeks, the knowledge that I had no one local to call or meet up with was crushing. Honestly, I would be lying if I didn’t say that six months later it isn’t still hard and saddening sometimes to have left our friends behind and be struggling to make new ones. However, in the meantime, rather than focus on being sad, I’ve decided to focus on the positives of not knowing anyone yet and once I thought about it, I realized there are some awesome things about starting over somewhere new! Here’s what is keeping me positive.