Psychological Aspects of Transition
Video / August 1, 2024
Transcript
Hello and welcome to the Road to Mental Readiness session on the psychological aspects of transition. My name is Lieutenant Navy Justin Mullin, Transition Personnel Selection Officer at CAF TU, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island.
Please note that there is a handout document provided with this presentation. Please take a moment to find and open this document now. This handout has several activities that can be completed throughout our session. Feel free to pause this video and complete the activities as we go, or you may wait and complete them at the end of our session. The choice is yours, and this handout will be yours to keep upon completion.
As the title suggests, this session will focus on the psychological aspects of military to civilian transition and will offer strategies that may be helpful in navigating this process. While you may have contemplated the more obvious implications of release, for example, your personal finances, there will also be upcoming shifts in your routines, resources, and social networks to consider. How you prepare for the adjustment can affect your health, your well-being, and your life satisfaction.
Research tells us that taking the time to build our psychological and social resources can help to set us up for a successful transition. I encourage you to take this opportunity to consider how transitioning from a military to civilian environment may affect you so that you can prepare yourself and your loved ones to navigate this complex life phase.
On average, most of us can expect to go through 30 events of significance in our lives. These can include, but are not limited to, leaving home as a young adult, starting our first job, moving to different places, establishing or losing significant relationships, and becoming parents. Transitioning from military to civilian life is one of life's events of significance and like other major life events, requires a process of adjustment that takes time, planning and patience.
If you think back to when you first joined the CAF, there was a significant adaptation to the culture and expectations of the military environment. The process of transitioning out of the military will require similar adjustment. The transition process is different for everyone and will vary depending on your release type. Some of you may have been planning and looking forward to this for years, and you may intend to completely retire from all paid work. Others may be transitioning to a different career out of uniform or focusing on rehabilitation after a medical release. Or you could be selectively retiring, doing part time work to stay engaged in your community while also maintaining some structure to your life, albeit hopefully with fewer meetings and fewer emails. Each of these paths will have different factors to consider and different decisions to make. We will talk about some of those.
Like any process, transition has several phases that will differ depending on your personal circumstances. This information is also in your handout. Let's take a closer look at each phase.
We begin at pre-retirement, which is split into two phases.
First, we have the remote phase. We may spend several years contemplating the possibility of retirement or release, imagining what life would look like after. However, it's also possible that we may have been too busy to give it much thought.
Next, we enter the near phase. When we get a bit closer, we set a date and start preparing for release. This period can often be so focused on the administrative steps that we don't have much time to consider the psychological aspects of the process or to process some of the associated emotions. Depending on our personal circumstances as we get closer to our release date, we may experience a mixture of excitement about the future, satisfaction and reflecting on our career, grief as we process the loss of familiar routines and settings, sadness that a chapter is coming to an end, fear and anxiety about what's next, vulnerability as we leave a familiar environment and lots and lots of uncertainty. Those of us who are medically releasing may feel anger or resentment as they see their path diverging from what they had planned. This is the time to start thinking about what you want your life to look like and begin planning for more than just the financial aspects of retirement.
After pre-retirement, we enter retirement. This phase is when we move out of the CAF and into the next chapter. Those choosing to leave and fully retire may experience a honeymoon phase where it feels like an endless vacation. Those transitioning to a new career may feel some trepidation as they adapt to a new environment. It can certainly feel good to let go of work pressures and get caught up on your much deserved rest. In fact, don't be surprised if you sleep more than usual in the initial weeks and months after release.
However, it can also be a time of anxiety and uncertainty as you start to consider what you will do with your time. For those who have reached the senior levels of the organization, there can also be a significant downshifting in pace after release that may be accompanied by a change in mindset as you get used to no longer being in the know or having a seat at the table. Some members, approximately 20%, may go through a disenchantment phase during which they feel bored, restless and unfulfilled. We will talk about some ways to get through that.
After retirement, we enter the reorientation phase. This phase gives you the opportunity to focus on who you are and explore what's important to you. People often travel, try new activities and hobbies, reassess the priorities, and cultivate an identity beyond their career. It can be a great opportunity to learn more about yourself and discover what brings you joy.
And finally, we enter the stability phase. This final phase, where we move into our new normal, is all about finding stability and routine. At this point, we have a clearer idea of what the path ahead looks like, what we want to do, and who we want to spend time with. It's important to remember that there is no set schedule for these phases, and everyone's journey will look different. We should avoid the temptation to compare our situation to those of our friends and colleagues.
Two members with the same release date will transition through each of these phases at their own pace, based on their own personal circumstances. It is not a race, and it is certainly not a contest. After many years of being told where to go and what to do, it may feel unfamiliar and perhaps a little overwhelming to be making all of the choices and all the decisions on your own.
Some of the factors to consider as you plan your journey include: Where am I in the process right now? Am I contemplating release? Do I have a release date? How much time do I have until the next step?
Again, there will be some variation depending on your type of release. How ready am I?
The Transition 101 DLN course and My Transition Guide have a Road to Civilian Life questionnaire that can help you assess your readiness for transition to civilian life.
Have I considered where I want to end up? Have I thought about what it would look like? What does my family or partner think it will look like?
Consider location, moving, travel, family and friends, housing, activities, and other changes. Clarify your expectations and those of your partner and your family.
What are some of the potential challenges or opportunities I may encounter? What are my hopes, fears, and expectations? What sources of support will I need along the way?
None of us can do it alone, so it is important to think about who is in your pit crew and what are my next steps. Every journey has a starting point.
Let's take a moment to consider where you are starting from in your handout on Page 3. Take a moment to reflect on these questions and write down your answers. What has it meant to you to be a member of the CAF? How has life in the CAF contributed to your identity? What needs has it filled?
In addition to a salary and a career, life in the military provides rank, title, traditions, structure, and a familiar routine. Those who joined shortly after high school may have known little else. In the military, we are told from day one what to wear, what to do, where to live, and how to behave. Over time, we develop a psychological attachment to the familiar routines, processes, people, units, bases, and even the houses. Our profession, including military service, also contributes to our sense of meaning and purpose. The work that we do and the shared values among our peers provide a sense of security, belonging, and commonality of purpose. It is important to consider how that need for meaning, belonging, and purpose can be fulfilled after release. So, as you prepare to transition, take some time to consider how your military service has contributed to your identity, the needs it has filled, and what it has meant to you. It is important to imagine what it will look like when that is no longer part of your daily life. Anticipating the potential losses can help us identify gaps that we need to consider as we look ahead.
One way to identify areas of adjustment is to assess how we currently allocate our time and energy in each of the domains of well-being. In your handout on page 4, you will find a circle. I want you to take a moment to divide the circle into the following seven domains of well-being based on the quantity of your time that you allocate to each area on an average weekday. The domains include health, including physical and mental health, family, including time with your partner, immediate and extended family, work/professional including time spent on work related activities, Social, including time spent with friends, your support network and your community, Spiritual including time spent reflecting on your sense of meaning and connection, Leisure, including fun, recreational activities and hobbies, and finally mental intellectual, including time spent on personal growth and stimulation. Draw an arc in each slice to reflect how full each area of your life is at the moment. An example can be seen on this slide.
After you've done that, take a moment to consider how that distribution might change after transition. It is quite likely that in your current circle, the work slice takes up a significant portion and that other domains have to compete for what time is left. As you prepare for transition and retirement, consider how your time allocation will shift and how you would like to start filling the space created by either shrinking or removing the work portion. Again, this is a process that will take time and some adjustment, but you can start to generate ideas by asking yourself what your ideal day looks like, what things you used to enjoy that you haven't had time for in a while, and what portions of this circle bring you the most joy.
Now that we have identified that the transition process is something that needs to be planned out and prepared for, and that there will be many changes throughout the process, we can consider some tools and strategies that can be helpful in managing the transition process. The good news is that these are the same skills and strategies that you have been using to manage the demands of the CAF. Leaving home to join the military, completing your training, moving to different places, and adapting to new work environments, positions, bosses and colleagues, and the millions of other small changes and adaptations that you have navigated thus far. We will review some of these strategies that have been demonstrated to help manage significant life changes and contribute to overall well-being.
In considering where to focus your efforts, it can be helpful to know what the common characteristics are that make us more likely to perceive a situation as stressful. Doctor Sonia Lupien, a Canadian neuroscience researcher, has identified 4 characteristics of situations that make them more likely to be perceived as stressful. We have adapted the model and developed the acronym PUNT to help identify the components of stress.
Perception of control. Feeling that you have little or no control over the situation or the stressor.
Unpredictability. The stressor is something completely unexpected or that you had no way to anticipate.
Novelty, something new that you have not experienced before occurs and finally:
Threat to ego, feeling that your professional and or personal abilities are being questioned or doubted.
There will be many new and unpredictable aspects of the transition process over which you may have limited control, and which may lead you to doubt your abilities. As you begin your planning, consider what you can do to influence each of these factors to try and mitigate potential stress. Visualizing and anticipating can influence both the unpredictability as well as the novelty of "PUNT". To anticipate and prepare let's go back to some of the questions that we considered to begin mapping out the process and use these to visualize the road ahead. These are also in your handout on page 5.
Where am I in the process right now? What do I imagine my life will look like after release? What do I imagine my life will look like a year after release? Where will I be living?
Aspects to consider: Urban versus rural life, proximity to family and friends, ability to travel, housing costs, types of activities available employment and healthcare.
What will I be doing with my time? What does my partner and family envision? Identifying the things that will remain the same can reduce some of the unpredictability associated with change while creating structures and routines. This can mitigate some of the uncertainty that contributes to overwhelming feelings of stress. Identifying what will be different helps us determine where we need to focus our efforts. It also creates an opportunity to imagine how we would like things to be so that we can gradually decrease some of the novelty as we take steps to make our vision a reality. Research tells us that visualizing upcoming events helps us anticipate potential challenges and how we can overcome them and begins to create a sense of familiarity.
Now that we know where we are headed, we can create a plan and break it down into small, manageable steps. This helps decrease unpredictability and can increase our perception of control. Think of it like planning a road trip. You know the destination, but where will you visit along the way? Where will you stop for dinner? What will you pack and when will you pack it?
Goal setting can also help us structure tasks into a checklist so that we can track our progress. SMART goal setting is particularly helpful when breaking larger tasks into smaller pieces, making them less overwhelming. SMART stands for goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time bound. Questions that can help us develop SMART goals include where am I now and where do I want to go? What is my objective or destination? How will I know when I get there? How much time do I want to take to get there? What steps will need to be taken, or decisions made along the way? What are some of the potential challenges or opportunities? What are my hopes, fears, and expectations? What resources and supports will I need along the way? None of us can do it alone and so it is important to think about who is in your pit crew? What are my next steps? When the process gets overwhelming
You can also use WIN goal setting to refocus on the next step and then the next step. Always remember "What's Important Now".
The next few slides will explore some factors that have been consistently shown to enhance well-being during transition from military to civilian life. They are a sense of mastery or self efficacy. In other words, a feeling that we have some control over important life events and that we can successfully complete tasks and achieve goals. This includes effective application of coping strategies such as planning and preparation, problem solving and accessing additional resources when we need them.
Social support and belonging. Numerous studies have demonstrated that having strong social connections and feeling a sense of belonging are critical to health and well-being. Having people we can rely on and be ourselves with can help buffer the stress of significant life changes. This is particularly important as you shift out of the active military community and have decreased connection to colleagues that you are used to seeing on a daily basis. These factors are associated with better health, lower stress, and easier adjustment during military to civilian adjustment; we will look at them in more detail.
When we find ourselves needing to adapt to change, it can be helpful to consider what is in our control. Based on the work of Stephen Covey, spheres of influence or control can help us identify where to focus our energy and our attention. The circle in the center is the sphere of control. In this are the things over which you have direct control, and you determine the final outcome. These can include your attitude, your behavior, and your efforts. Note that this is the smallest circle. In the middle, we have the sphere of influence. This includes things over which you have some degree of influence, although you alone do not control the outcome. These can include your home environment, your finances, your relationships with family and friends. Finally, the outer circle is the sphere of no influence and no control. This encompasses things that may matter to us, but over which we have no influence and no control. Examples can include the weather, the way other people drive their cars, or even the price of gas. As you consider the path ahead, try to determine which aspects are within your influence or control and would benefit from your time and attention. You may notice that you have more control over some things than you're used to, such as where you live and how you spend your time. This can be both exciting, but it can also be daunting.
For the things that are important to us but over which we have no control we need to use the skill of acceptance rather than wasting our time and energy getting upset about them. When we talked about visualizing what will be the same, we touched on the fact that some consistency, no matter how small, can provide structure during significant change. Even getting up at the same time everyday or maintaining your habit of going for a daily walk can create a sense of routine and familiarity when other things are changing. Similarly, taking the time to anticipate how your daily routine might change and deliberately planning how you will do that increases the level of influence and control that you have. Considering which aspects are within your control can contribute to a sense of familiarity and structure during the phases of the transition process. Write these down on Page Six of your handout.
Coping is the process of seeking and applying solutions to manage stressful situations. Our brains quickly assess situations to determine what the problem is whether we have the resources to deal with it, and what we can do about it. The strategy that we select is based on many factors, including what has worked for us in the past, the environment we are in, resources and support available to us, as well as our personality factors such as introversion or extroversion.
Let's take a closer look at types of coping strategies.
When it comes to coping, most of us have coped reasonably well with everything that has happened in our lives so far. However, no one single strategy is effective for all situations. And we tend to rely on the same 3 or 4 coping strategies for most situations.
Research has found that overall, when individuals have a degree of control over the situation, problem focused coping strategies tend to be more helpful over the long term as they seek to solve the problem versus just dealing with the emotional reactions to it. Examples of problem-solving coping strategies include seeking information about a problem. Example: reaching out to someone with experience or expertise who may be able to answer some of your questions.
Time management and prioritization. Example: making a list of tasks to be completed, putting them in order of importance, and scheduling two to three each day.
Applying problem solving skills. Example: considering potential courses of action and choosing a solution.
Removing oneself from unhealthy situations. Example: leaving an unhealthy relationship or job.
In situations where our ability to control or influence the situation are limited, such as when we experience a loss or our plans change due to conditions beyond our control, there are other strategies that tend to be more effective. These are emotion focused strategies.
Examples of emotion focused strategies include distraction. Example: keeping yourself busy to take your mind off an issue by listening to music, cleaning the house, or watching an episode of a sitcom or another favorite TV show.
Relaxation techniques. Example: deep breathing, yoga or meditation.
Seeking social support. Example: by reaching out to a friend to talk about your situation and your emotions.
Positive reappraisal. Example: changing the way you view a situation to be more positive or realistic. Looking on the bright side or finding a silver lining. Exercise is also a great emotion focused coping strategy that can give us some distance from the situation while also doing something that has benefits for our physical and our mental health. Even going for a 10-minute walk can help us gain perspective while we get some fresh air.
Some forms of coping can be less helpful and may actually contribute to further stress when used regularly. While these strategies also seek to manage the emotions associated with a stressful situation, they rely on behaviors or habits that can be harmful. These strategies can be tempting because they offer short term relief but involve additional longer-term consequences.
Examples of unhelpful coping strategies include drinking alcohol or using drugs to cope, denying there is a problem or avoiding dealing with it, isolating ourselves or withdrawing from those around us, angry or aggressive outbursts or other inappropriate behavior, and problematic gambling or gaming. This is not to say that engaging in these behaviors is always bad. There's nothing wrong with having a drink or enjoying a night out at the racetrack with your friends. The issue is when these behaviors are used to cope with stress and need to be used in increasingly larger quantities to manage our emotions.
There is some risk during transition that we get into the habit of drinking every evening because it begins to feel like an endless vacation, or we fill our new found free time with endless binge watching or doom scrolling of the news. It is important to find balance and not gravitate towards unhealthy coping to fill our time.
Both problem and emotion focused coping strategies fall within what we call approach coping responses. Approach coping essentially means that we face problems head on and choose how we will either resolve or manage them as opposed to avoiding them. Research indicates that those who use approach focused coping strategies tend to have higher resilience, well-being and overall life satisfaction.
The unhelpful strategies would be considered avoiding coping and they are linked to poorer outcomes, particularly in veteran populations.
What is social support? Put simply, social support means having other people we can turn to in times of need. As human beings, our greatest need is to connect with others. Social support during significant life changes, such as military to civilian transition, is critical to positive adjustment and satisfaction. Researchers have found that close relationships, more than money, are what contribute to happiness as we age. Invest in relationships and this includes a relationship with yourself.
There are four key types of support we can benefit from. Emotional support involves sharing life experiences with others and having the experience of feeling understood, cared for and loved.
Informational support involves sharing knowledge, suggestions and information to help us address our problems.
Instrumental or practical support involves the provision of concrete tangible aid or services. This could be a friend that helps you to fix a lawn mower or to move a sofa.
Affiliation support involves acceptance and a sense of belonging within a community or a group.
In your handout on page 7, there's space for you to identify who you can rely on for various types of support. Take a minute or two to jot down at least one source for each type of support. Keep in mind that the size of your support network is not what matters most. It is whether you can depend on them to be there when you need it.
Taking a look at who you listed under each type of support, ask yourself the following questions. Are they a positive support? For example, do they make you feel listened to and accepted? Do you feel better after spending time with them? Can you be yourself around them, and can you trust them to respect your privacy?
How accessible are they to you? Are you able to connect with them regularly or as needed? Are there gaps in your support network, or do you need to consider ways to increase your access to support?
These are particularly important considerations as you plan for upcoming changes. You may need to be creative in maintaining current connections and prepare to make new ones within your community. Keep in mind that the best social support network in the world will not help you if you don't reach out and ask for help when you need it. While it can be difficult to reach out and ask for help, it is critical to not only your well-being, but also of the person giving support.
In study after study, social support and active coping have been demonstrated to be the two primary contributors to adjustment and well-being during the transition from work to retirement. Social support provides key benefits for both our physical and emotional health, acting as both a protective factor to help protect us from experiencing health problems and a recovery factor to help us bounce back from problems when they do occur. Having strong, accessible social support also helps individuals gain a more realistic perspective on situations they may find themselves in. A good friend can listen to us and help us reframe things in a more balanced way.
Knowing that we have others we can count on reduces the stress response we experience in challenging situations, increases individuals’ confidence in themselves, fosters effective problem focused coping strategies, and helps in recovery from illness. Further, research has found that you also benefit from giving social support to others. At a time of significant change in your daily routine, maintaining social connections and participating within your community can help to offset some of the sense of disconnect you might experience upon leaving the active military community.
Finally, as with any plan, there must be some room for adjustment and recalculation. As you navigate the changes ahead here is a summary of some of the key strategies to keep you headed in the right direction.
Communicate your expectations and ask family members to clearly communicate theirs. There may be some negotiation and compromise, but we need to articulate our desires, hopes, and fears if we are to map out a shared vision. Be prepared to re evaluate the plan as you proceed. Your situation may change over time, or you may discover that your initial plan isn't quite what you thought it would be. There is nothing saying that you can't change your mind. Focus on the part of the process that you are in and enjoy the moment. It is great to keep the final destination in mind, but focusing on smaller steps along the way will decrease the sense of being overwhelmed.
It will also help us recognize each successful step we make along the way. Be honest with yourself and with others. Transitioning out of the military is a significant change, and there will be ups and there will be downs. Don't be afraid to acknowledge when it gets tough and give yourself and those around you some grace and some understanding.
Set realistic milestones. There is a lot to do, and it doesn't all need to be done at once. At the end of each day, take a moment to reflect on what went well that day. These can be small, seemingly insignificant things, but deliberately identifying them can help to offset our tendency to focus only on the negative. There is always something to be grateful for. As you approach release and transition, whether it is still far off or quickly approaching, keep in mind that it is a process.
Similar to other big life events, there will be changes that require adjustment and adaptation. The more things change, the more destabilizing it may feel. The adjustment will involve planning, decision making, self reflection, communication, and hard work.
While it may appear easier than some of the other challenges you have faced so far, don't be surprised if transition is harder than you expect. At the end of the day, regardless of our occupation or our experiences, none of us is immune to emotions, especially in times of change and loss. None of us are too tough to accept that different life phases will require adaptation. We know that planning for transition or retirement is associated with lower anxiety, better adjustment, and higher satisfaction than not planning.
Some other factors that are consistently associated with better adjustment include adequate preparation time, access to transition resources, a healthy support network, having interest outside of work, and finding a sense of meaning and purpose after military service. Give yourself the time and space that you need to properly prepare for transition and remember that you do not have to go through it alone.
Thank you for your time and I wish you the best of luck on your transition.