This week I’m having Janai Brown share about her experience of joining the military and how you can overcome your fears about joining the military!
3 Ways To Manage Your Fears About Joining The Military
by Janai Brown
If you’re feeling nervous and afraid about joining the military, I can definitely relate. Basic training scared me. To make matters worse, I had to go through it twice. You read that right, twice. Once, when I entered the United States Air Force Academy Preparatory School and then again a year later when I started my time at the United States Air Force Academy. After going through the experience once, you’d think I’d be less afraid the second time around, but I wasn’t. If anything, I was more anxious because I knew what to expect and I wasn’t looking forward to it.
What scared me most about basic training was my fear of not being able to handle the physical rigors.
At the time, I was very insecure about my physical fitness. You see, I wasn’t much of an athlete growing up. I didn’t play sports and hated going to gym class. It wasn’t until my junior or senior year, when a new gym opened up in town, that I actually started working out and enjoying it. But, I felt late to the fitness game. And even though I met all the minimum physical requirements for the Air Force Academy, I still didn’t feel good or ready enough.
Maybe you feel the same way. No matter the type of fear(s) you have about joining the military, I believe you have the power to push through. There were 3 things that helped me push past my fear and endure two basic trainings and I believe they’ll help you too. They are:
Remember God’s promises to help you through your weaknesses.
One of my favorite scriptures to meditate on is Philippians 2:13 (amplified version) which says, “For it is [not your strength, but it is] God who is effectively at work in you, both to will and to work [that is, strengthening, energizing, and creating in you the longing and the ability to fulfill your purpose] for His good pleasure.” Whatever verse works for you, memorize and recite it as often as you need.
Remember examples of God helping you through your weakness in the past.
This definitely helped me through my second basic training. Knowing God helped me survive my first gave me faith and confidence in his ability to help me the second time around. A simple motto you can recite is “if God helped me back then, he can do it again.”
Remember, you don’t have to wait for your feelings to catch up to your decisions.
Though your feelings of fear are real, they are not facts. You can feel the fear and do what you need to do anyway.
I once read a quote that said something along the lines of, both fear and faith require you to believe in something you cannot see, you choose which one you want to believe. Just as easy as you can think of all the things that could go wrong, you can also think of all the things that could go right. Choose faith over fear. And if joining the military is what you really want to do, don’t let your fears stop you.
Janai Brown is an Air Force Veteran and the founder of Courageous & Confident Co. where she shares mindset and faith-based advice to build up the courage & confidence of women going through a career change. You can learn more from her at https://www.
Hi I’m thinking about joining the army since I was seven and I passed my asvab for 92 alpha. All I need to do is go to MEPS and enlist.
But I get this fear of hesitation and I was wondering if you had any advice. I read your website, great job. I believe this is what God want me to do also but I still get nervous. Please write at josemonzon2000@icloud.com