This week I had some candid conversations with other Military spouse entrepreneurs and I wanted to share some tidbits from my discussions. I am also going to be doing a podcast (The Military Spouse Show) that I do with Wendy Poling where we go into more detail regarding some of what we discussed.
The first “question” I got was more of a comment then a question and it was in the form of, “Yeah right, Krista!” “I HAD a career before I married into the military!” I even got a PM that I must have a live-in nanny to run a business and, sadly, I do not. I have actually locked myself in the bathroom just to make a work call and been caught screaming at my four kids to find their mittens faster on my way to give a “work life balance” speech to Fleet and Family. I am not a perfect professional or a perfect mom, just trying to share some coaching tips with the military spouse community because I feel like we deserve coaching as much as other CEOs.
So I don’t want my question to make light of how difficult it is to balance work and being a military wife, but let’s open up the discussion beyond your current job and discuss your life work. There are times when a job isn’t possible, or an entrepreneurial venture is slow, but I help people find their life work beyond their career, and that work can even include being a spouse because your role is more important than you think. Spouses strength, solidarity and service are what make this country strong, so never discount that role!
Being a supportive spouse and stay-at-home parent is work my friend, and work that should be highly valued. Being with your family is a worthy lifestyle choice, and making your family a priority while being a homemaker and valued member of the community is incredibly important and complicated. Both stay-at-home and career spouses can explore the principles they revere and consider how to communicate them through their work.
Think about your values, unique strengths, and experiences. Consider how you might weave them into work that you will love doing. If you love what you do, then even working that paid second or third job can become an opportunity to thrive. I wanted share some additional questions that spouses asked and I answered making this blog post much longer than most of my posts. I hope real military spouses bloggers don’t yell at me in the comments for how long this post might be as I give you a sneak peek at some of what we are discussing on the podcast and please if you don’t see your question here email me and ask your questions that you would like me to answer on this show and I will post the answers to my top 5 questions that you all ask.