Waking up to an unknown is very, VERY strange.
Not knowing what tomorrow will bring is extremely UNCOMFORTABLE.
Knowing that, this is our new “normal” is even worse. #FACTS
As our new reality starts to sink in, we are all trying to adjust to something that none of us has experienced in this life time. It comes with emotional roller coster. Fear mixed with nerves, questions with no answers, heart ache with anxiety.. and the list goes on. It feels like there is no light at the end of the tunnel. Most importantly we don’t even know when we will ever be able to get out of that tunnel. Crazy part is, we are all in this together and no one has a playbook to navigate that insanity.
While I was trying to create my own cheat sheet, all of a sudden a light bulb popped up in my mind. The answer to my questions was MY DAD!!!!! Let me tell you why…
My dad, was an officer at the Turkish Army and in his thirty years of service, he had been in two very serious military operations. One of which was before he married to my mom where he had been in a serious car accident and almost disabled. The second one was during 1990’s where Iraq & Kuwait was in a massive war for their borders and Turkish army assigned their teams to protect our own borders. My dad was leading a team during that time and as a natural part of his job he has been deployed to the war zone. My memories for that time is mostly pretty blurry quite honestly. However there are very sharp flashbacks that still shakes me to my core… such as : My last conversation with him.. watching him to walk to the bus with his team…asking my mom if I will ever be able to see him again…trying to stay strong for my mom and my baby sister but waking up to completely wet pillows in the morning as I was crying in my sleep w/o realizing the pain I was in.
But the story is not about me! It is about MY DAD.
Imagine…You are transferred to an operation, to put your life towards protecting your country. For an indefinite amount of time. In the middle of nowhere. No connection to your family and friends. No social media, no television, nothing. It is winter and you are sleeping in a tent. Every night you wake up to the sounds of bombs flying over your head and hoping that you won’t die in your sleep. Yes, that was my dad’s life for eight straight months.
Fast forward today, while I was having my coffee and having FaceTime with my family, I asked him, HOW THE HELL HE MADE IT without losing his mind ~ and thankfully his life. Here are some tips from him, I thought we can all benefit from :
1- Take it as ONE DAY AT A TIME. What you have is only TODAY.
2- If you want to dream or be hopefully, think a bit further. Like summer , six months ahead and dream of being with your family by the beach.
3- Do NOT think ANYTHING in between.
4- Read as much as you can. It will take you to other worlds and help you with your sanity.
5- Be there for your friends. It will help you MORE than you think.
Quite honestly it was very eye-opening for me to hear those from my dad. Even though there are moments I feel like I can not breath ~ knowing that my dad have been in way worse case and still survived.
My note to myself : Be in the NOW!
Always #DadysGirl
Love, Ayca Xxxx
JUST SAYIN'... 