When I was being medically transitioned out of the Army, I was already trying to prepare for whatever came next. I had started taking real estate classes because I knew I couldn't just sit around feeling sorry for myself.
The truth is, I felt like I had failed.
I had two years left before retirement, but my command team told me that because I couldn't do physical training anymore, I couldn't lead soldiers. That hurt more than I can put into words. My identity had been wrapped up in being a soldier and a leader.
I was angry.
I remember thinking, What in the world am I supposed to do as a 50-year-old woman?
I also knew myself well enough to know I probably wasn't going to do well working for someone else. After years in the Army, I wasn't sure I could handle people refusing to do their jobs or the workplace drama that seems to exist everywhere. I needed something where my success depended on my own effort.
So I became a Realtor.
I was finally starting to find my rhythm when life threw me another curveball.
I moved back to Kansas to help care for my mom. At the same time, my husband and I separated. Suddenly I was living back in my childhood home with my mom and stepdad upstairs.
Talk about another pivot.
At the time, none of it felt like a blessing.
It felt like loss.
I had lost the career I loved. I had lost the future I thought I was going to have. My marriage was falling apart, and I was trying to figure out who I was without the Army.
But looking back now, I can see something I couldn't see then.
Leaving the Army gave me time with my family that I never would have had otherwise. I was able to be there for my mom. I got to watch my grandchildren grow up instead of missing those precious years because of deployments, duty assignments, and military life.
Most importantly, leaving the Army made room for something I never knew God was preparing me for.
It led me to life coaching.
It led me to writing books.
It led me to speaking.
It led me to the purpose I'm living today.
Sometimes the best thing that ever happens to us shows up looking like disappointment.
Sometimes what feels like the end is really God making room for something better.
If you're walking through a season that doesn't make sense right now, don't give up.
One day you may look back and realize that what broke your heart was actually the beginning of the life you were meant to live.
Your Pivot Challenge: Think about one difficult season in your life. Can you see even one good thing that came from it? Sometimes the blessing doesn't show up until we look in the rearview mirror.