We were lucky to catch up with Anna Larson recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Anna, really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?
The day my spouse retired from the Army after more than 22 years of service was the day I became determined to fill a much-needed gap for military spouses and as part of that process discovered my purpose of supporting military spouses around the world as they retired from living an active-duty military life and moved into the civilian world.
As my servicemember walked out the door to pick up his retirement paperwork it hit me that I wasn’t yet prepared for the massive change that was about to happen to our family. The lifestyle that we’d lived for nearly two decades was about to end. I felt immense grief for a loss I did not know how to even articulate. It felt like I no longer knew who I was (if I wasn’t an active duty spouse), where I fit into the military community, or what that future held.
That day I decided that no other military spouse should ever feel this way. They deserve resources, information, and support to find their way to a “happy ever after.” It became my passion and my purpose to create a space for military spouses around the world to discover a better way to leave active duty military life feeling better prepared and ready to start a new life that allowed them to accomplish their dreams and aspirations that had been put on hold by living an active duty military life.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
Milspouse Transition provides a space for military spouses who are leaving or who have already crossed out of active-duty military life to navigate the challenges that come with this transition and massive life change. Military spouses don’t serve as active duty military members, but we navigate the same deployments, temporary duty assignments, long work hours, frequent moves, and sudden changes to schedules as our servicemembers. However, we come from all those same experiences from a different perspective.
Active duty military life comes to a jarring end when your servicemember retires or transitions into the civilian world. I began MilSpouse Transition to give military spouses what they need to support a successful and positive journey into living a civilian life.
Our resources span from partnering organizations to live streams and podcasts, articles, and events. We are premiering one of the first military spouse-focused transition workshops using Gallup strengths coaching to help them identify the talents that will help them thrive.
We cover topics such as employment, healthcare, identity and purpose, community, relationships and family, finances, and more.
Through MilSpouse Transition, military spouses are becoming partners in the transition process as opposed to an afterthought and feel more confident about making choices for their future.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
As a Gallup® Certified Strengths Coach, I am very familiar with the talents that have impacted my journey to building this brand-new organization and filling a gap in the military community.
The first is hard work. I do not slow down until I have accomplished the tasks that I have set for myself. Sometimes this can lead to burnout so if you have that strength of “achiever” like I do I recommend being careful to not take too much on at once.
The second is a strategic mindset. I love the challenge of finding the best way to accomplish things. I can see the path from the start to the finish and that helps me continually move forward with intention. If you are also “strategic,” remind yourself to set smaller goals along the way as a way to celebrate how far you’ve come instead of constantly focusing on how far you have to go.
Finally, I am focused on supporting other people with their personal growth. I see potential in everyone to accomplish exactly what they want in life and love to help them get there. This skill is called “developer” and if you possess this strength you may also see opportunities for growth in others when they are unable to see their potential themselves.
Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?
MilSpouse Transition is always looking for organizations that offer an experience specific to the military spouse. The current transition models consider military spouses as an “add-on” to whatever information or resources are offered to the servicemember. Instead of being given the tools to excel on our own we are expected to glean what we can from the servicemember and make it relevant for ourselves.
MilSpouse Transition demands a different experience for every military spouse leaving active-duty military life. I am looking for organizations that are thinking of the military spouse as a deserving audience of their own. If you are an organization offering resources, services, or support that will help a military spouse navigate transition successfully I’d love to hear from you. Please reach out on LinkedIn or drop me a message from the Milspouse Transition website.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://milspousetransition.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/milspousetransition/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/milspousetransition
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annadlarson/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@milspousetransition
