So on the weekend I finally received the climbing frame which I had wanted to order for weeks now but it was out of stock- no wonder of course as more people were trying to make their garden as child friendly as they could in lockdown times- and so did I.
However of course the climbing frame came in millions of parts and I ... am no good at handy work- or am I?
I realised 3 things
1. I was brought up with women doing "women's things, ballet, becoming a purser, or a teacher so you could do part time work when being married and having children, maybe tennis but for sure not taking hammers and drills and screwdrivers and putting things together, or being interested in cars etcetc"
Now I never really questioned that because I have a lot of skills, I am an intelligent woman so the lack of knowledge here was never an issue as I always either found a friend (male) who helped me or I hired someone and paid them to do the things that I can't do.
Nothing wrong with this picture...in general but over the last 7 days I had a childrens bench and the climbing frame delivered and no one to help me right that minute when it was delivered. So, I had a choice, call for friends favours for the next weekend and wait, call a handyman and pay and wait until they had time to do this or ... DO IT MYSELF! ... and that was a really weird feeling.. really do this handyman men's work myself? But I can't ? Well I thought I can give it a try, I can always leave it for someone else to finish right?
So I did... I started with the bench and I pretty much got it all wrong first time round, 1. Because I didn’t think I needed to read the description in detail as it seemed all straight forward ( yes yes I know, big mistake) . I screwed and unscrewed nearly every single screw as I went along- however... I did it. I cursed, I didn’t really enjoy it and it took me probably 3 times as long as any skilled person would have taken BUT the fact is I did it!
So the programme in my head- I can't do this - clearly needs to be deleted. Because I just proved myself twice- that when I really put my heart and some discipline into this then I actually could do it!
2. I also realised that of course when you do something for the first time, which doesn’t happen that often anymore when you are an adult unless you take up new skills or a new sports, then you do look a bit silly first time round, and it all takes up time- but so what? Once I realised where I had gone wrong I was able to put things together second time round much faster. So you never stop learning and it is never too late to pick up new skills IF you really want to learn them!
And if you do then you put your heart, soul, sweat and tears and dedication into learning new things, and give yourself a little bit of time to improve and do it again and again and again and you will see improvement pretty fast within a few weeks!
3. Just because I CAN do something doesn’t mean I SHOULD be doing it- WHY? Because I was not enjoying it, although seeing my children happy with the result was heartwarming but this I would have achieved if I had had someone else put it together and in that time that I spent doing the "hard" work I could have done other things that I am actually already good at or that I love doing- ie I could have played with my kids in the sandpit or read with or to them etcetc
So think about the things that you do on a daily basis and ask yourself truly: SHOULD you be doing this? Could you pay someone or ask someone to do xyz and free your own time sensibly to do things you could achieve much much more in or that you love much more?
I outsourced my accounts when I opened my business, I outsourced my IT any electric work I have to outsource etcetc... so where could you save time to spend better and spend money to make more money with things you are good at?
I will leave you with that thought for the day 😊
Have a great week and reach out if there is something I can do to help you reach your "aha" moments to move your life forward.
All the best Astrid
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