As military kids, it is often assumed that we love change and that we couldn’t live without it. In my personal experience, telling someone that I am a military kid often results in a response of “Oh, you must be so good with change!”. While this is partly true, the question that really needs to be asked is this: Are we actually good with change, or are we just comfortable with it?
Many military kids, including myself, fear or have feared the day when our parents retire. My Dad retired this summer, and I still feel strange about the idea of living somewhere for longer than two or three years. The idea of not having that change after almost 15 years of it and 11 moves is very difficult to process. Though I appreciate that I no longer have to change schools, sports teams, or other activities, I still feel more comfortable when involved in the lengthy process of readjusting that moving involved. We all feel that dread of the first day at a new school, the first practice, or even the first doctor’s appointment, but most of us are comfortable with being uncomfortable, which is what I would describe as a motto of military kids.
Though we are comfortable in the constant change, we still place down roots in other ways. I know that for myself, although it may be strange, I am resistant to changing account profile photos, my phone’s case and wallpaper, and even the way the apps are laid out on my phone. These seemingly very small things are the way that I stay grounded throughout the constant movement in my life. You may not think you have one of these small unchanging things, but if you look around or think about it, I can guarantee that you have found a way to stay grounded that is not too unlike mine.
We tend to be comfortable with the actual moving and adjustment, but we may be more attached to small rituals or items. Though the military experience varies for everybody, we all appreciate the uncomfortable situations to some degree. To answer the question, I believe that military kids are often more comfortable with change than “good” with it. So, next time someone says that you must be good with change, think about it for a minute and realize that we are not good with all change, and definitely not comfortable with all of it. But we are comfortable with being uncomfortable; it’s just a part of military life.
This article was written by Avery T., a military teen living in Colorado. If you have a piece of writing you'd like to share with Bloom, please visit our Writing page to find out how. We love hearing from you!
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