How To Look Forward to a Duty Station You Don’t Love

There are great duty stations and there are… bleh duty stations.  And it definitely varies by person.  Someone might love San Antonio, and someone else might feel like they’re being melted to death for 8 months of the year.

But what’s for sure is you’re bound to go somewhere you don’t love during your time moving with the military.  Here are some ways to look forward to a duty station even when you’re not very excited to go.

1. Don’t get sucked into what people say.

There are bad stories about every duty station.  Nowhere is perfect for everyone and those who hate a place are more vocal about their views. Weed them out and try to find the positives of a place. Tiny town= No traffic. Overseas = a new adventure you may never get again. Everything can have a positive spin.

2. Forget your past wishes

Once you get your assignment completely forget about all of the places you wanted to go.  You’ll compare your new home to every location on your wish list, tearing it apart and finding ways to hate it.  Forget them, and focus on getting excited for this new location.  It’ll make it a lot easier to transition.

3. Remember it’s not forever.

As much as you might hate this place. It won’t be your home for the rest of your life.  You will move, you will again enter the civilian world (even in many years) and you’ll choose where your perfect home is. Remember that.

The most important thing is to have a positive attitude. Telling yourself you’ll hate it will only force you to hate it.  Try to get to know a place and have some fun.  You might miss it some day.

Where are you currently?  Do you love it or are you ready to move? Let us know in the comments.