Blooming where you are planted may sound like an oxymoron to someone who discovers they are going to be planted in a brown desert, especially if that “someone” is from rolling green luscious hills of California wine country.

The only thing that grows well here in our current duty station is cactus and weeds. Both of which aren’t very pleasant to be around, are full of thorns, and can hurt others when approached.

Honestly, at first, the thought of blooming where I’m planted gave me more images of these plants than it did of hope and excitement.

Yet, here I am almost three years later, in love with my home, my town, my friends. It didn’t come easy or even fast. And, it came after weathering many storms (dust storms to be exact), literally and metaphorically—but here we are, on the other side.

This blog is short and simple but one of encouragement to remind all the milspouses out there, no matter what your duty station—whether its reputation is for better or for worse—there is hope and even beauty for you.

There’s no cheat code to this, and there are a million things that contribute to thriving in, not just surviving at a duty station. 

I hope these small tips serve as reminders of trying our best to see the beauty in where we are at….. even if it’s like where I live- the desert and just a whole lot of brown.

1. Really lean into the culture of your new town! Here in El Paso, that looks like Taco Tuesday every week, hiking the best local mountains, and trying new foods—one of my absolute new favorites is Agua Fresca de Jamaica! Who knew?!

2. Find your interests and then pursue groups of that interest. Love to hike? Find a hiking group! If you’re religious, find a local church. Friend, you can’t do this on your own. Get plugged in, but get plugged in with people who really get what lights your soul up.

3. Smile. The physical act of smiling helps us enjoy the day. In fact, there was even a study with actual plants that showed exposing them to positive music helped plants grow exponentially more than plants in the same growth environment that were exposed to negative tracks.

So, embrace where you are (we have a whole resource here at Mission: Milspouse called “Embrace your Base” to help you), find joy in the little things, and remember, even in the desert, beautiful flowers can bloom.”