Army Wives - How to deal with moving constantly

A dilemma all working Army wives face is what next?’ The usual ‘where next’ is already mapped for them. Postings in the army take you to myriad locales. Being from an Army family, my husband and I have moved 7 places in 13 years. After a cushy job in Delhi, I recently moved to a small town in Punjab. In each of these places, I found things to do, hobbies to follow and career moves to make that have been extremely beneficial to me over the years. An example is a recent discovery of a little known historical gem in the bylanes of Punjab!

The More, the Merrier!

Shifting bases from one–horse towns to bustling metros gives you a sense of life beyond big city. It widens your worldview and sensitizes you to a larger perspective of universality and oneness. It makes you more tolerant of diversity that characterises India. There are many communities where army wives can connect, share, grow and learn from each other’s experience.  

One is not enough

Due to professional limitations in towns and smaller cities you find yourself following many professional avenues. This gives you a greater exposure to varied yet related fields and when you can do multiple things, us women don’t like to stick to one! Now, do we?

When I was in a small place called Devlali, close to Nashik, I started maintaining a diary. Realising that I may have a flair for writing, I tried my luck by submitting the articles to a local daily and after a couple of misses I hit gold!

When you move places, you have nothing to lose to start something anew and afresh. It gives you a new identiy, see it as a way of chiselling a new professional persona, or even a new career choice. There are umpteen instances of people who have either started from a scratch or reinvented themselves on a new transfer. Some ideas also take birth in a new place after going through fresh experiences.

Learn New Things

So there you are in a new location with a lot of time at hand, in-between jobs. What do you do? Sit at home and do online extension courses, learn a new language, instrument or even Yoga. Taking a breather from cut throat corporate world, sitting back and reviewing your achievements and goals for the future will add value to your past achievements and to your future professional growth! Coursera, Udemy , Khan Academy have some amazing courses form reputable universities to suit all interests. I enrolled in an online French tutorial. Let’s see how that goes now. Check out French Tutorial for a variety of free classes online.