Push Me Everyday - A Wounded Sky Soldier and His Wife's Journey to Health & Wellness. Military Family - Crystal & Tyler Wilson.
Though there have been some really incredible moments in the last 1 1/2 years, Tyler and I have also experienced more than our fare share of really rough moments. These rough patches and feeling like we had been in a constant state of chaos or survival mode for a year made us realize it was time to focus on us. Focus on the us that is Mr. and Mrs. Wilson, not advocates for others, not soon-to-be parents, not the us we are to other people, but the us we are to one another. It was time for us to hit “reset” and experience our relationship and marriage for the first time without as many obligations, outside influences, or turmoil. Finally, we realized and accepted we NEEDED some “us time” (aka “me time”) in order to continue to be the best version of ourselves we can and to reset going into the new year and all of our life changes.
Thanks to some friends we found just the right avenue to pursue this goal. We applied and were accepted to a family retreat for Project Sanctuary, whose mission is to…provide therapeutic, curative, supportive and recreational activities to veterans, active military personnel, their spouses and children in a leisure environment. We are dedicated to providing a safe environment where individuals and their families who have been affected by their service in the military may spend both leisure and structured time with their families and fellow service members in an effort to diminish the wearisome impact of returning home after a considerable period away while serving the interests of the country.
It took a little getting used to for me, as I am not used to being on this side of things as a participant, but it turned out the entire retreat and this organization was just what we needed! One of the things Tyler and I tend to do that doesn’t fit well into our health and wellness model is focus all of our energy on others. This retreat however, forced us to focus on our needs and goals. We were able to reconnect in a stress-free environment, spend quality time doing things we love like mountain biking and shooting archery (I had a great time at this since I have NEVER been able to shoot a higher score than Tyler in ANYTHING related to shooting until this trip 🙂 ), tried new things together (Tyler hasn’t been around horses since he was a kid, but Brisby made sure to change that!), learned new skills, and found some new purpose in our heath and wellness journey.
All in all, we gained so much more from the week than we could have every expected, and for that we will be forever grateful to Project Sanctuary. This organization has not only allowed, but encouraged and supported us to hit our “reset” button and to be ok with taking some “us time”! Thank you for everything you have helped us achieve and we look forward to continuing to build on these opportunities!
