“If you want to see a sad sight. Go to someone’s retirement ceremony who achieved everything professionally, but at the expense of their family” – Coach Daniel
Congratulations! You have completed your service to this great nation honorably. You are standing there at the position of attention accepting your end of term service or retirement award. All of your peers, subordinates and seniors are in attendance.
Everyone goes around the horn, to tell you how you and your leadership have impacted and improved their lives. You reflect and reminisce on all that you have done as you look at your shadow box of accomplishments. There is only one thing missing at the ceremony. The family team you once had. The same team that you somehow convinced yourself to neglect because the success you were pursuing was for them.
The Army song has lyrics that belt out “and the Army goes rolling along”. That partly means when a Soldier has departed from service, the Army goes rolling along. It is the same for Navy SEALs or any service member, serving in any branch. Upon exit from military service either by force or by choice. You will exit with what you earned. You will transition back into the civilian world with whatever foundation you have built or worse what foundation you allowed to crumble.
This is where having a coach in your corner could prove to be beneficial.
A professional coach is able to look at the whole field objectively and provide us insight on what we may not see. In addition, a professional coach can provide us insight on what we may not have been thinking about as a player on the field. Why do you think majority of the coaching staff sits in the skybox? Why are they not on the field with the rest of the team? Because they have a better vantage point and can see the entire field.
Having someone watching your field from a wider vantage point applies the same principles to the battlefield of life. As a service member, we get so tunnel vision in our success. We often forget to protect the most important asset, our family. The ones that we hope will be there after our time served is completed. After 20 years of honorable service, 14 Permanent Change of Station (PCS) relocations, four children, three combat deployments to Iraq, Three college degrees, 10 years of marriage (two separations), and starting my own business. I can attribute to still being alive and thriving, to God and great coaches in my corner.
I surrounded myself with positive and encouraging people. People who told me no, when all I wanted to hear was yes. People who kicked me in the butt when I wanted to play the world’s smallest violin for myself. People that told me to get help and counseling for life’s issues when I didn’t see the point. People who encouraged me to seek a higher power and belief than myself. People who checked in on me to ensure I was doing the things I needed to do in order to achieve what I said I wanted to achieve. People who were not cheerleaders, but reliable and consistent accountability partners.
The moral of the story is to apply the survival tip of balance to your life. A great team has a good balance of offense and defense.
That way neither side has to work harder than the other, and they all work together to achieve a common goal. You can still achieve all that you want in life, and it does not have to be at the expense of those who really matter.
Accountability Partners LLC wants to become part of your team, to help you and your family celebrate together. Visit www.apachieve.com to partner with a professional coach.
