This is Chapter 7 in the Transition Memoir. Catch up here.
Amid the struggle of figuring out who I was and where I was going next, I went to the Military Influencer Conference in 2018. At the time I had made less than a few hundred dollars my whole blogging career. I was in the red, and it is crazy to think that I invested in myself to attend this conference. But it was truly a turning point.
At the conference, I had the chance to meet people I had connected with online, and I told them about my idea for a podcast focused on sharing women veterans’ stories. I struggled as both a military spouse and a veteran and wondered if I was missing something by only telling the stories of veterans. These military spouses encouraged me to focus on veterans only and not military spouses.
Another influential conversation at the conference was when I met up with a military spouse I both admired and respected. I told her that I was trying to reconcile being both a veteran and a military spouse. I felt I needed these two parts of me to be distinct, and I needed to create separate blogs for each of these versions of my personality.
She asked me a simple question. Are you two people? Or are you just one person with different experiences? She followed the question with the simple advice of leaning into who I was as a whole person. Leaning into the struggle, I felt being part of two groups that often didn’t collide.
It seems crazy that someone asking you a question where the answer is obvious, but I needed someone to tell me that I couldn’t separate who I was into two distinct boxes. I was one person with multiple experiences and those experiences gave me a unique voice. I also realized I was afraid. I had purposely avoided the veteran community. Deep down, I resented how my transition went and felt that the military had abandoned me in my struggle. Add to that, I didn’t think I would be welcome into the military community because of my gender. I was afraid to take the leap and connect with veterans.
Attending the Military Influencer Conference opened doors for my future and that investment has paid back itself back in the years that followed. It also was a step in helping me understand who I was and embracing both my military past that would always be a part of me and my future as a military spouse, mom and entrepreneur. I was starting to discover who I was and my path forward.
The Military Influencer Conference also opened my eyes to the fact that my voice was important. I was both a veteran and a military spouse. I could see things from both sides. I had served in the military and understood what it meant to be a service member. I also knew how hard it was to be a military spouse. I also was a minority in the military space at large because I was a woman.
I was about to embark on the adventure of telling the stories of military women. Women veterans like me had a wide range of experiences and also had stories of their own to tell. I didn’t know creating this platform would change what came next. But I was fueled by the excitement that came from the Military Influencer Conference and although a little unsure of what was coming next, I was excited to see what would come.
Learn more about the Military Influencer Conference here.