Eric just set off on his 3rd 9 month deployment. This time to the Middle East. One thing that has helped me immensely to make time pass more quickly and make me feel more productive is to make a deployment bucket list. They way I see it- time is going to pass whether Eric and I are together or not. I might as well set some goals while he’s gone and crush them. I refuse to look at deployment as “the 9 months Eric was gone”!
Its important to me to set a couple different types of goals for my bucket list. I want at least one that’s a stretch, one that’s focused around personal development, have at least one place I want to visit, one that I know I can do, and then a few mini goals that I want to accomplish each month.
The biggest thing to keep in mind is this is supposed to be a motivator and be fun! It shouldn’t be something you ever beat yourself up over. I find that if something is challenging, but attainable, it inspires me to really stay motivated and push to accomplish it.
The nice thing about this strategy is that you can apply this at any time in life, not just for a summer.
My deployment bucket list:
- Hike the 4 pass loop in Aspen for my 26th birthday
- Work on how I react to things and manage stress better
- Run a half marathon at sub 2:30 pace
- Buy a pair of shorts and actually wear them
- Have a new blog post once a week
- Go back to Massachusetts and Virginia
- Camp at least 4 times
- Try one new recipe a month
- Stick to a whole food plant based diet at least 80% of the time
- Pay off at least 1/3 of our new car
There’s a lot on there! But I have lots of time. I can’t wait to look back at the end of deployment and see everything I have accomplished.