Adapting to Change

              Change is never easy and when you're forced to adapt when change is thrown your way, it can be extremely difficult. I am being forced to become accustomed to a new way of life as of very recently, only two weeks ago. On January 24, 2012, my boyfriend, an ensign in the United States Navy, was deployed. His deployment is going to be six to eight months, stopping in ports all over Europe and Africa. It has been hard adapting to this change of him never around and us never being able to talk, but I try to stay positive.

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                The key element when one is adapting to change is keeping busy. Though it is difficult and I miss him all the time, working full time and going to school full time definitely helps keep my mind busy. One other thing that is very therapeutic is being able to write letters. It helps when you are writing out your feelings and letting them know how much you care. People live this life every day, living as military wives, husbands, boyfriends, and girlfriends, and it is possible. What outweighs all the negative aspects of being a military girlfriend, is the one positive: how tremendously proud you are of him. Defending your country is a great honor, and I remind myself everyday of how lucky I am to be with a member of the United States military. 

Vocabulary:

ADAPT- to get a feel for, to settle and adjust

FORCED-doing something that you do not want to do, but you have to.

DEPLOYED- to send troops to a specific area, to take action somewhere, or use something.

KEY ELEMENT- most important thing to recognize

THERAPEUTIC - doing something that makes you feel better

TREMENDOUSLY - extremely large or great amount        

Vocabulary Exercise

Please put the correct word in the space:

Something that can always be __________ is working out first thing every morning. A person is not ___________ to do this every day and it can take a lot of time to _________ to waking up so early.  One ___________ to focus on when you want to work out in the morning is how ____________ it can be. It is a great way to feel better about yourself knowing that you are being healthy; it can help ______________. You can __________ every morning at the gym showing off what you got!

Grammar Point:
The verbs in the story about adapting to change are in the present tense. Find them in the passage . Write them and then write the past tense form for each one.

 Write a paragraph about a time in your life when you had to adapt to change. Use the past tense.