Secret #2: Keep A Positive Attitude
Leslie Lefebvre: Contributing Columnist for Healthy Lifestyles & Parenting
Leslie Lefebvre is a military spouse of nine years and mother of two. She has been through 27 months of deployments and a number of PCS moves. In addition to balancing her role as parent to two young children with her personal work-out program, Leslie shares her passion for health and fitness with others as a PiYo Instructor and Beachbody Fitness
Leslie is preparing her family for a cross-country move from South Carolina to the state of Washington. She writes:
We officially have orders to Ft. Lewis, Washington. It was quite the surprise, it wasn’t even on our radar, but the Army sends you where they want/need you. We are making this a true adventure, we’re driving the 3,000 miles!! Are we nuts?!
In the last (almost) 10 years of my life as a military spouse we have moved twice…Call me lucky! We lived in Hawaii for 6 years, and that move was truly carefree and worry free, but the move from Hawaii to South Carolina was a little different because by then we had a dog and a baby to worry about.
This move is proving to be SUPER stressful. Not only are we dealing with selling our house, but we’ve acquired another dog, added a baby to the family, and have to look into KINDERGARTENS!!! Aaahhh!!! My oldest is turning five and will be starting to school in the fall. I’m both extremely excited and saddened at the same time. It is hard to shop around for the ‘perfect’ school from the other side of the country. I always assumed I would get to visit the prospective school and go through all the emotions of applying for school. However, the beautiful thing about the Army, is that there is always someone there to help and guide you in the direction.
Leslie keeps her spirits up by making it a point to take one day at a time, to stay active, and to enjoy her family and friends when and how she can, and to reach out to friends who have “been there.”
“Thank goodness for social media, because it has connected me to many people dealing with the same situation,” Leslie says, which, in addition to making time to stay active, helps keep the stress at bay.
“Now,” Leslie says, “Moving aside, it’s time to pull out the tissues because my baby is leaving me for kindergarten!!!!!!”