My LEAST Favorite Thing!

You guys…..FOR REALZZZZ…..I cannot STAND spending time ironing!! Even though I KNOW it is crucial to having a crisp, clean look, whether going to the office or just going out of the house. There are certain pieces in the wardrobe that MUST be ironed to look nice. Dress shirts (don’t be fooled by that No Iron Needed garbage, if you don’t, they STILL look as though they were in a pile on the chair by your bed all night. Iron it, and you will see what I mean).

As a kid growing up on the farm, my Mom made SURE to teach my sister and I how to iron. What would us farm girls have to press, you ask? My dads jeans and his snap button plaid shirts, that he was going to wear to the field or in the tractor to feed the animals. Yep…he was lookin’ SHARP for the girls (which is what he called the cows….). Hindsight, I’m glad I learned because it sure came in handy when I got a job at the office after college. So…my kids will learn too!

I took my professional wardrobe VERY seriously and unless it was a sweater, it got ironed. Ahh, who am I kidding, I usually ironed those too! Wrinkles, to me, looked disheveled and that is a big NO NO in my opinion. I wanted to present myself the best way possible. In ones career, it has always stuck in my head that we need to dress for the job we want, not the job we have, and CERTAINLY not the patio we plan to sit at after the work day is over. PLUS, I worked for the CEO and had to represent him in the best way possible as well.

But now, life looks very different. I have some tops that need ironing and, of course, my dress pants and dresses; but I’m mostly a jeans and T kind of gal, soooo:

BUT…my hubby cannot get away with that. He’s moved up a bit since his days of running a shop and wearing jeans from Costco and shirts from Walmart or Superstore. As a Director he has a very professional image to portray and so he should! That is the natural progression of climbing the corporate ladder, and while I am BY FAR his biggest fan, and ADMIRE how hard he works and well he provides for this family…..I literally, LITERALLY, hate every dang second I’m standing over that ironing board.

I’ve tried to change my mindset to be like, “This is how I take care of him. I make sure he puts his best foot forward every day by keeping his clothes pressed and ready to wear” or “I know he loves these particular shirts best, and when he has a big day, he likes to choose from them. Ironing them is my way of respecting that.” I’ve even been like, “Jesus says we should serve our spouse, do the things we know they like, so I’m ironing”. Don’t get me wrong, I love Jesus; but I still hate ironing! (and before I hear you say, “Why doesn’t HE iron his clothes?”…girl….he provides for us 100%, works 12-13 hours days, and you know what, he shouldn’t HAVE to. I’m home, I’m capable and we don’t need to spend money on having someone else do it. Just because I don’t like it, doesn’t mean I shouldn’t do it. We are a team here.)

Now that I’ve got that out, I must say, I have sort of transformed my time of ironing to a time of learning. I will listen to a new podcast (because I’ve got an hour to kill!) and my two favorite ones are Creative Empire and The GaryVee Audio Experience. One is very focused on helping “creatives” build their empires with the ins and outs of growing a blog or business from scratch, the how to’s and interviewing others in that community, to shed light and give inspiration. The other, good ‘ol Gary, just straight up tells you like it is. I mean…ZERO bullshit, no fancy phrases, just the stuff you don’t think people should say to you when you are trying to create something; but feel a little sheepish because somehow, he sees right through you.

What also happens, when I’m stuck in a place I can’t leave (yes…still ironing), is it is when I’m most reactive to my thoughts. When I see the future of Method39 3-5 years from now, and I get excited. (I have so much to doooo; but….I’m ironing). When I don’t dwell on the fact that things aren’t going as quickly or as smoothly as I would like; but had no reason to assume otherwise, so why am I disappointed in the first place?! Have you ever had that happen? Maybe you started a new job and aren’t getting noticed when you are sure you putting in your best work. Or you started your own business….online or in store, and the bottom line or exposure isn’t moving like you’d hoped. Or in a relationship…you want one thing but don’t feel you are getting it?

My personal opinion is that all comes down to expectations. Are yours realistic? I mean, if I sit and compare myself to many of the women that I am following, then I should just quit now. MOST have no kids, or if they do they have childcare or at the very least a parent who can help them get some quiet time, or just them and their hubby joyfully going through life one gorgeous pic and outfit at a time, or travelling anywhere and everywhere, or always having incredible date nights, or or or….the list goes on. They think they know distractions; but they don’t have kids yet! HAHAHA!!!! Besides, comparison is the thief of joy and we just shouldn’t!

What we need to do is put our nose to the grindstone, work as hard as we can, and earn the right to be seen, heard and rewarded. RIGHT?! Nothing in life is going to happen overnight so WHY do we expect the pace to be so fast? What happened to being patient? Do you think “being a millionaire” at 30 will be ANY LESS amazing than to do it by 25? (Because apparently that’s the gold standard number of worldly success….insert eye roll here….I have a whole separate blog post on THAT). We have got BIG lives to live friends….SO MANY forks in the road, ups, downs, good times, bad times and hard times are coming so if we have our hearts set on a very specific timeline, we run the risk of feeling like failures and giving up, when that is NOT the real story!

I’m not going to lie, I fall into this trap all the time. I thought I was going to be “something” by 40. I didn’t know what; but I was sure by that ripe old age, I’d have defined it and been mastering it for a while. Instead, I’m just STARTING something! But I will tell you what, if we keep looking left and right, and not keep our eyes forward and on the prize, we’ll never master anything. I can fool myself into the thinking that the time I spend on Instagram (outside of posting my own stories and images) is “research”, when truly, it’s just me being a spectator to other people working their businesses. What good does that do? What I need to do is create a plan, a timeline and map my actions to get me there. ESPECIALLY when it’s a tough season to focus on anything, or get much time to work, like when the kids are home from school. This time is meant for us to enjoy a few months together (even though I feel more like a taxi driver this year with gymnastics, football camp, and right after that finishes, it’s practices) and not ignore them so I can work full days.

Based on all of that, I just have to change my timeline. I have to be realistic and know when I have time, and when I don’t. Not only that, I can’t be mad when I don’t. Because let me tell you what, I will have no problem being KICK ASS at 45….and maybe, JUST MAYBE, I’ll be in a place where I don’t have to iron so much!! But until then, it’s one hour, once a week, and turns out, my creativity and imagination ignites, so maybe it’s not so bad after all….(oh, my hubby is going to LOVE that one!!)

What can you see in your day, that you DO NOT look forward to; but maybe you could rewire your thinking on it?

xoxo Taryn