Although you can’t control what challenges life presents, you can work to ensure you’re prepared to handle stress in the healthiest ways possible.
Military spouses can often be seen as the backbone on the homefront for our nation’s armed forces. Whether it’s managing a relocation every two to three years or leading the household during a spouse’s deployment, military spouses shoulder many challenges with strength and resilience.
But these challenges don’t come without additional stress. This additional stress can build over time and affect a military spouse’s mental and physical health and wellbeing.
Learn about stressors faced by military spouses, tips for navigating through them, and the resources available to support you.
Military Life, Stress, and Its Impact on Your Health
While military life offers many rewarding opportunities and positive experiences, it’s important to acknowledge that military spouses often carry additional stress from the demands of military life, including:
- Frequent relocations – Military families move every two to three years on average. For military spouses, this can lead to disrupted employment, the loss of support networks, and social isolation.
- Employment challenges – Long-term, meaningful employment can be difficult and stressful to attain when facing a relocation, lack of child care, and more.
- Lack of control – As a military spouse, you may feel like you have little control over the direction of your own life, including where you live, the safety of your spouse, your career, and more.
- Relationship issues – Lengthy separations and reconnections after a spouse’s deployment can add additional stress to marital relationships.
- Additional responsibilities – For many military spouses, stress can come from the additional responsibilities when their active duty spouse is primarily focused on the mission. Stressful responsibilities can include managing the household during a deployment, parenting alone, and helping the deployed spouse overcome mental or physical health issues upon return, and more.
Even the best stress management plan can be challenged sometimes. When military spouses struggle with this stress, it can lead to health issues such as high blood pressure, obesity, depression, anxiety, and more. Stress can also create tension in relationships, make sleep difficult, and lead to unhealthy lifestyle choices such as excessive alcohol use or making poor food choices.
Tips for Navigating Stress
Although no one can control which challenges life presents, being prepared can help handle stress in the healthiest ways possible. Check out the following tips to find different effective strategies.
- Build a support network. When people have others for both practical and emotional support, it can help alleviate stress. Seek out other military spouses, find a support group on base, or research online spaces to join so you can share with people who have similar backgrounds and challenges. Lean on friends and family to help with child care and household tasks.
- Develop healthy coping techniques. It’s important to find healthy ways to manage stress. For some, it may help to try calming exercises like deep breathing, a short meditation, or journaling. For others, it may help to exercise, get out for a walk, or find a place to volunteer that provides meaning and reward.
- Prioritize personal needs. It isn’t selfish to take care of yourself. Carve out time for enjoyable pastimes, such as coffee dates with friends, exercise routines, and favorite activities. Be sure to pursue meaningful pastimes that build confidence and sense of self, separate from your spouse’s goals or career.
- Embrace the positive. It’s easy to get caught up in personal challenges, but having a positive outlook can help shift your mood and perspective. Take time to appreciate all the good that’s happening. Taking advantage of time alone during a spouse’s deployment can help build strength, independence, and new skills. Improving management of the homefront can allow your spouse to focus on their mission. Relocation can enable experiences in different places with new people.
- Be willing to say no. Sometimes military spouses take pride in being pillars of strength, people who can do it all, but being willing to say no is something to be proud of, too. Avoid overscheduling yourself and be comfortable setting boundaries and saying no.
- Get support. Sometimes, even with a strong support network and healthy coping skills, additional support may be needed. Check out the resources below to help manage stress and improve well-being.
Resources
- TRICARE – Each health care plan offers a wide range of benefits to help stay strong and healthy, including preventive care, mental health support, and more.
- Confidential Counseling – Access free, confidential counseling on the installation through the Military and Family Life Counseling program and Military OneSource. A trained counselor can help work through stress, improve relationships, adjust to deployment, and more.
- The Spouse Education and Career Opportunities program – SECO supports military spouses with education and career guidance, scholarships, and partnerships with employers who have committed to recruit, hire, promote, and retain military spouses.
- Building Healthy Relationships Specialty Consultation – This is a free consultation designed to strengthen relationships with family, friends, and others. Personalized coaching sessions are available to help strengthen relationships, stay connected during deployment, reconnect afterwards, and more.
- Military OneSource PCS & Military Moves page – Military OneSource can connect military spouses to relocation tools, expert 24/7 support, and up-to-date information and resources for all relocation needs.
- Blog Brigade – Read posts from military spouses about a range of topics, including military life, deployment, parenting, relationships, career and education, health and wellness, and moving.
With the right coping strategies and support, military spouses can be equipped to handle the stress that comes with being the backbone on the homefront of our nation’s armed forces!