Making the Unconscious Conscious

Or- The crack that lets the light in

“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.” — Carl Jung

A quick recap for those just joining us. In the military, we use Lines of Effort to ‘bin’ logical groupings of tasks and missions that contribute to achieving a specific strategic or operational objective.

In life, I use 6 Lines of Effort, LOE—1 Body, LOE—2 Mind, LOE—3 Spirit, LOE—4 Purpose, LOE—5 Relationships & LOE—6 Responsibilities.

We spent April talking about LOE—1. We’re now on LOE—2

Think.

Pretty high up on the list of things that I am not, is Mental Health Professional.

As a performance coach, I make that clear to my clients and suggest they seek out someone qualified if that is what they need.

I often say that my job as a coach is to help people focus through the windshield on their destination, while the job of a therapist is frequently to help you look clearly into the rearview mirror and make sense of what you see there.

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and today (May 16th) is Mental Health Action Day, so this is as good of a time as any to discuss one of the topics people often avoid discussing.

In my breakdown of the topics that I place under LOE—2 Mind, mental health falls squarely in the middle.

This means that all of the things we talked about in LOE-1 are important to maintaining good mental health.

This does not mean that a good night's sleep, a salad, and hitting the gym are cures for depression or other conditions, but there is enough science to say that they do help.

My exposure to mental health issues comes largely through the veteran community, and as most know, there is a veteran mental health crisis, and veterans are taking their lives at an alarming rate.

I think it is a mistake to try to paint all veterans with the same brush, but I feel pretty confident in saying that suicide is seen as an escape from a situation that seems to have no other exit.

Often for veterans leaving the military, the world can become a very lonely place. The support network that we have grown to depend on is gone, in many cases, the sense of belonging and purpose of mission is gone, and this can leave veterans vulnerable.

Additionally, for many, the approaching Memorial Day brings memories of former teammates and friends lost.

The advice that I usually give to transitioning veterans is to stay connected to the veteran community, but to also embrace their new role as a civilian, and citizen of the country they helped defend.

This means taking a long look at our identity and being open to reevaluating the way we view ourselves.

It is important to recognize that leaving the service does not have to mean losing a sense of purpose. There are plenty of ways to find meaning by pursuing things that matter.

And it is even more important to acknowledge when we’re not doing great and be willing to ask for help. Having difficulties doesn’t mean that we are broken.

It might be a good idea to reach out to a veteran you haven’t heard from in a while and check in.

The topics we’ll turn to next, mindfulness and mindset, further support mental well-being. We’ll get into them next week.

“There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in” ― Leonard Cohen

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Read. Reasonable Essays by

Sean Patrick Hughes

The Intractable Problem of Mental Health and Military Service

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Write.

I have been using this section to showcase what others are saying about Tough Rugged Bastards.

Here’s what reviewer Ben C. had to say:

“John Dailey’s Tough Rugged Bastards is partly an autobiography, partly a unit history, and partly a description of the psychological tax of combat. It succeeds on all fronts.
The core of the book centers on the formation, deployment, and eventual disbandment of the U.S. Marine Corps’ first contribution to SOCOM, MCSOCOM Detachment 1. Dailey’s account of this lesser-known but important unit in special operations history will satisfy both the lay reader and the connoisseur of military history.
In a genre that often alternates between macho chest thumping and trite tales of the emotionally wounded’s difficult homecomings, Dailey manages to avoid cliche. His descriptions of the real psychological costs of killing and surviving in combat never become sodden and his chest remains unthumped. He is honest and good at his craft. That makes for a great book.”

Tough Rugged Bastards is available for preorder anywhere you buy books. Click the image to visit the Amazon page

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Repeat.

Words of wisdom from those who said it best.

“Anything that’s human is mentionable, and anything that is mentionable can be more manageable. When we can talk about our feelings, they become less overwhelming, less upsetting, and less scary.”

— Mr. Rogers

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I recently had the opportunity to talk with the wonderful folks at The Power of Our Story. You can check it out here:

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See you next Thursday!