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Healthy Recovery: Keeping Morale High

Recovering from an injury can be a lengthy process. It’s not uncommon to face feelings of stress and anxiety during difficult times. However, there are ways to stay positive and keep up healthy recovery behavior as you move past a work injury. Here are a few tips for keeping your spirits up while your recover…

Healthy Recovery Behavior: Making Positive Changes

Balance your diet

Choosing the right things to eat is a major part of healthy recovery behavior. Eating the right foods will help you recover faster than eating poorly. You’ll want to try and eat foods that are rich in vitamins and protein. Vitamins (like A, B, C, and D) and other nutrients like calcium, zinc, and copper promote tissue growth and immune system strength.

Make sure you’re also eating enough food as well. As you’re recovering, you won’t need as many calories as when you were working. However, cutting your intake by too much can impede your recovery. Your body uses more energy during the early stages of injury for repairs, so make sure to still eat enough to help your body along.

Stick to the plan

After your injury, your doctor will help you come up with a treatment plan. Healthy recovery behavior means sticking to this plan even when you might want to take a day off. Stick to your physical therapy visits or at-home exercise routines. Putting them off will just make your recovery last longer than it should. Following their plan will help you recover quickly and properly.

Set recovery goals

Sometimes, it can feel like you’re stuck during your recovery. You’ll feel like you’re doing all the right things, but not seeing improvement. Writing down goals for your recovery is a good way to keep yourself motivated during your recovery. Setting realistic goals for yourself gives you something to work towards and will show you’re really making progress. 

Get some rest

Being well-rested is another large part of healthy recovery behavior. Poor sleep can leave you fatigued and unfocused, causing you to not recover as well as you should be. You might be tempted to try and push yourself through your recovery, but that’ll do you more harm than good in the long run.

Keeping a positive mindset is the biggest thing when it comes to recovering from an injury. If your mind is in the right place, then you’ll recover faster than you might’ve originally expected.

Finding Employment Post-Deployment

Coming back from war can be a huge adjustment, in a number of different ways. From PTSD, to getting back into your civilian life, and finding work outside of the military— no part of this change is easy. However, one part of that adjustment which should be made easier is finding employment post-deployment. However, the sad fact of the matter is, it can be really difficult for veterans to find work outside of the military. But, we’re here to help change that. 

Finding Employment Post-Deployment: Veteran’s Affairs 

Expect your job to be extremely different 

One of the largest struggles for veteran’s readjusting into civilian life is the vast difference between the impact their job has on the world around them. After all, the choices you make during deployment can mean life or death. Therefore, a common complaint when finding employment post-deployment is that it lacks excitement and impact. While there is certainly some truth to your job not holding the same kind of impact as it did on the battlefront, you have to understand that the impact of your new position is merely a different type.

Understand that your impact will look different, but is still important 

As we’ve begun to explain, you have to begin to understand that impact is not a one-trick pony. Every person in a job position serves a purpose. Depending on what your job is, your purpose will look a bit different. However, even when you’re serving coffee— you’re helping people start their day, be productive, and improve their attitude for the people around them. Your job, and the way you do it, makes a difference in how other people are able to do theirs. Finding employment post-deployment might mean adjusting your opinion on what making a difference looks like. This can be difficult sometimes. Therefore, it might help to try and put some of those reasons why you’re leaving the military into perspective. 

Remember why you’re there

You left the military for a certain reason. That reason is unique to every single person. Whether your contract is up, you have a baby on the way, or you’ve been injured— your objective for getting out is something to keep in mind. Finding employment post-deployment can be difficult. Especially when you’re looking for the right fit. Finding something that focuses in on your special skills, as well as provides you with time to do those things you were missing out on while you were gone. 

Research companies that aim to hire veterans 

Companies such as Boeing, USAA, U.S. Customs, Amazon, and Coca Cola are among those listed as ‘companies actively looking to hire vets’. When finding employment post-deployment, a great place to start is at the Veterans Affairs office. There are many companies across the country that make it their mission to hire veterans, and the VA will often be able to point you in the right direction. However, there are plenty of resources you can find online as well.