~Perspective + Purpose~
Reflections on my Air Force Anniversary Day!
5.8.2021
Today I celebrate the day my Air Force career anniversary started back in 1996 and ended in 2017! My perspective on my experience and journey over the past 25 YEARS gets clearer as each year passes. Today (and every year on this day) I take a few moments to pause and think back to the young girl I once was and the massive + brave decisions I made at such a young age! My purpose these days is to bring INSPIRATION to others, so I felt called to share a little bit of that experience with you. I hope this small snapshot will inspire other young high school seniors to pursue their dreams, follow their heart and find their purpose along the way!
Last week I had the opportunity to speak with a few high school seniors and listened to them as they shared their plans after graduating from high school. Some had already registered and paid for their fall college semester while others planned on welcoming a gap year to give them time to figure some things out. My big takeaway from listening to them was that we all follow different paths and there’s no “mold” we have to follow, no matter what the pressure of society or our family puts on us! (My nephew (in college) and niece (taking a gap year) back in Ohio are in the mist of this lift stage right now!) Our life experiences will guide us to what steps we take next and sometimes we may need to idle to figure it out.
After I listened to the students, I couldn’t help but take myself back to where I was as I prepared to graduate from high school. I planned to major in psychology and enrolled at Wright State University, mainly because my good friends were going there and it was still relatively close to home. But after just under a month of my first semester, I hated it! One big reason, was I had to work (busing china across campus for a catering company) to pay for school and had to work until late at night. The second and main reason, there was a large wooded area I had to walk through from the dorms to the campus and I was afraid to walk alone at night, so I called for police escort every time. So that experience was short lived and I packed up and went home. I enrolled in a Community College, Cincinnati State, and worked a full time AND a part-time job to pay for all my classes, books and living expenses. This was my “gap year” of trying to figure out what I wanted to do, while hustling to pay for it at the same time! It was fun experience and I loved still being close to home and hanging (partying) with my friends but I felt a massive pull to go somewhere else.
I listened to my “inner voice” calling me to be a part of something bigger than myself! I needed a challenge, something that wasn’t easy, to give me a distraction from my emotional struggle I was fighting as I was trying to heal after the egregious attack I went through before my senior year. I needed to find PURPOSE through my PAIN! Sooo in October of 1995, I signed up to join the Air Force and left a few months later on May 8, 1996.
I can still honestly say after 25 years, that was one of the BEST decisions of my entire life! The life experience, the friends, the travel, the discipline, the service, the growth, the job training…there’s so much I learned about myself during those initial four years and continued to grow and learn over the course of my career. I completed by Bachelor’s Degree while was I on active duty in my first four years of the serving in the military (and the military helped pay for it with tuition assistance). Then I went on to complete my Master’s Degree a few years later while working a full-time and part-time job (yes both, because life is expensive on your own, lol!). And I was also able to use my military education benefits again for graduate school (another bonus). My years of service, included active duty and reserves, and I retired on May 8, 2017!
I had an amazing and successful career that I’m so incredibly proud of! I answered the calling to serve, and served with honor, integrity + pride! I was helping myself heal in my own way, while simultaneously contributing to something bigger than myself. And that is the place where I grew! I grew into the woman I am today, by not being afraid to take a leap to try something different or challenging! You never really know what will happen until you do! I’ve carried this philosophy with me throughout my entire life. I took another leap after retirement, when I found my VOICE by sharing survivor journey to INSPIRE + EMPOWER others… and my military career and experience was a significant part of my healing journey!
There are so many memories and experience I could share, but this is my big “takeaway” today! These words are not a pitch to join the military, but more words of INSPIRATION to not be afraid to TAKE THAT LEAP, listen to that “inner voice” and find your PURPOSE!
I listened to my “inner voice” calling me to be a part of something bigger than myself! ~Christy Painchaud