I recently returned home from a year and a half deployment overseas.  Being gone so long taught me so much about life, myself, and people.  Now the true test begins As to be expected, there were some struggles with reintegrating and reacclimatizing myself back into what used to be my normal routine.  It has truly been a challenge.

The toughest part is feeling so in place, but out of place. You feel like you belong, but then you don’t.  You think you’ve missed out on so much that simple things are now a bit foreign.  You’ve missed so many great moments, that you’re an outsider to people and things that used to be so familiar. The look in people’s eyes when they see you is a strange one.  Friends and family look at you different, but you want them to see you the same.  At times you catch them looking into your eyes and they can tell that a part of you has changed.  You don’t see the world the same.

All in all, I truly have to take it one day at a time.  Everyday is a challenge, but it is also a new opportunity to get better.  Reintegrating is a process that doesn’t happen over night.  Like all processes it takes time and we have to let the process work itself.

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