adjective; Improving, growing, or succeeding steadily
For most of our CAF families in Europe, Thriving , is one adjective that we would ultimately aspire to have define our experience in OUTCAN. As military families who have had ivy league training in resilience, we typically aim to ensure that we set ourselves up to reach the “thrive” goal as quickly as possible so that our kids, our partners, our work and our personal life are not affected by such immense change.
Reality is, thriving in a new location, especially Europe, is much like a working document. It can have various stages of progression and it requires the issuer to make a commitment to do further intentional work in those targeted areas, an ongoing “health check” per se, in order to ensure they are prepared for the unknown realities of a move across the ocean and the probable hiccups along the way.
MFS(E) aims to provide families with the “health check’’ tools they require to assist in navigating through the stages we refer to as, the posting cycle . We break the cycle down into these 6 stages; Prepare, Move, Arrive, Connect, Settle…THRIVE.
Our hope is that after 6-12 months our families feel confident in the Thrive part of the cycle. Is this always the case? Of course not! Families most certainly have, and perhaps are still, navigating through some rough terrain and may still have trepidations about the foreign soil they now call home. Inspite of this, there is a great truth in the old adage, “ you are never given more than you can handle” , and if you are, we are here to help.
Please remember that regardless of what part of the posting cycle you or your family are in, we are always here to help you reach the finish line, to help you and your family not only THRIVE, but enjoy a happy, healthy OUTCAN experience.
As you may have already figured out, this is a unique posting, one that can have unforeseeable challenges, however with that also comes tremendous opportunity. We are all in control of our own perspectives and choosing to find joy in the chaos of our experience will ultimately bring us one step closer to thriving in Europe!
We would love to hear your #ProudMoment stories about the intentional actions you or your family took to ensure they were thriving in Europe. Sharing these stories may help inspire others through their current journey through the posting cycle?
