How do you handle the stress?

To be completely honest, I don't hesitate to have a good cry if i need one. Im not the sort of person to bottle up my emotions. I also scrapbook so I tend to scrapbook alot about military life and the stresses of it and I lovethe chat online with other military wives, we all band together to help each other out.

Generally speaking, I take what I like to call "a break from life". I lay down in bed or sit in a chair or something in a quiet and empty room and I just close my eyes and sit there and relax for while. It's always been really helpful to me. However, if you aren't to keen on that, there are other things I like to do. Sometimes when I get way too stressed, I exercise and it makes me feel a lot better. I've also found that just going out and getting in my car and driving somewhere or going to hang out with a friend can be very helpful.

I have to be honest with you... my Mother! Thats how I get through all of it. She is a saint to me. I just vent to her and she lets me. She does not say much just listens. I am telling you the stress close to deployments suck! We are at eachothers trhoats all the time. We are both getting on eashothers nerves. But then again all I can say is "well I wont have this for over a year so I minus well join in on it and enjoy the time I have with him". I also have a kid so that keeps me busy! How do you deal with it? What is the one thing you do to just let it all go?

i cry! alot i am close with my family and am so far away from everyone. i no no one here and hate it. right now he is gone and has been gone for a couple weeks and still has a week to go. i am going crazy. i haven't talked to an adult in weeks. thank goodness for my kids or i would really go nuts. i am ready for a brake though. i see so many of the military spouses and it just don't seem to bother some the way it does me. when he left for iraq i was a mess. to the point i was sick and i had wives come up and tell me it would be fine and they didn't even seem upset to watch their husband walk away to be gone for a year to war of all places. i had a very hard year and still don't handle the late nights anddeployments well at all. so if you have any tricks to dealing with it please let me know.

Late work nights, I have just come to accept them with the deployment coming up soon. Deployments, I find a network of friends who are in the same boat as I am, try to keep busy, cry a good amount and wait for the phone to ring. Mostly, I talk to you and the others in my support group, but you already knew that lol By the way, welcome, glad you joined!

Well thank god I don't have to any more but i just did the best i could to keep busy and as for the late nights you just get use to them and with my husbands last deployment I guess I did fine because when he came back i was so use to doing everything myself even with him here i still do it , it does make you stronger that i know...

I think because I too use to be in the Army is the reason why I don't stress as much about my husband working on CQ or staff duty or just working late. It's when he's in the field or on deployment when I start to get stressed out, but his family is really supportive and have been a great help in making sure that I stay sane. Plus being able to be part of the unit's FRG is a great help too.

Late work nights are just a fact of life in the military. I have come to get use to that just like another day. When it comes to the deployments i have a network of friends and family that i comunitcate with that help get me through the deployment. And then there is always a good cry.