Don’t underestimate me, don’t do it. I’m fierce. I’m determined. I will see your challenge and raise your bet. You could also call all this a little bit stubborn, obstinate or pigheaded. What can I say, I’m the firstborn farmer’s daughter of my father? The apple has not fallen far from the tree. Love you Dad!
You guys…my husband may have underestimated me. He should TOTALLY know better by now, right? After nearly 12 years of marriage, 2 children and all kinds of life in between – what was he thinking? Here’s the backstory.
So, we’re slowly updating our 1996 home to the present century and making it comfy and cozy for our little family. And when I say we, most of the time I mean him. My husband is the crafty/handy/talented one in the home remodel department. We had originally thought about transitioning this home to a rental property and buying something bigger on more acreage, but we decided that financial freedom was what we wanted even more; lower mortgage, more money to put towards other goals, plan to pay it off extra early, etc. So, we’re staying. AND it has the cash cow in the backyard, remember?
Anyway….’we’ just finished updating the girls’ bedroom closets with organizers, ditched their dressers and they got the gift of more space in their bedrooms for…Lord only knows what. With the leftover closet organizer components, he did all that same magic in our coat closet downstairs. I heart storage space, don’t you? And since we’re making the most of this home until our own girls are out on their own – it was needed.
This is becoming a longer story than originally intended, back to it. I was admiring his handiwork and realized I’d really like another shoe rack for the girls’ daily shoes. And he commented that we each probably didn’t need multiple pairs of running (him) and gym (me) shoes. I gently corrected him, sharing that a girl needs a pair of shoes for HIIT/cardio and another pair for weightlifting. He scoffed at me, “You need different shoes for lifting weights?! What, like 2.5-pound dumbbells?”
SAY WHAT!?
The love of my life, my partner in crime, the Clyde to my Bonnie, Sonny to my Cher…. Underestimated my ability?! I crave a good work out and have learned so much about fitness and nutrition in the last few years – it’s a key piece of my self-care routine. Where’s Mom from 5:30-6:15, four days of the week, and sometimes on a mid-morning Saturday? At the gym, lifting like a girl. OR getting in 100 push ups as part of an October challenge at Aspire.
Boomerang video credit to my fave instructor and co-owner at Aspire Total Fitness, Heidi Warneke. After this shoe debacle went down, I texted her and told her I needed some photographic evidence and she adamantly agreed. Watch out social media… lifting video coming soon! I knew she’d be game, she’s an Instagram boss and documents our sweat sesh’s regularly.
I know that James has seen or heard of my determination before; at work, at home and in life. But I’m throwing him through a loop this year speaking out loud my big dream to high tail it to Mexico for a few years, including ditching my traditional career to pursue flexible entrepreneurial opportunities on my own.
In fact, in recent weeks some of the conversations have been even a bit intense as he’s challenged me to get started with said entrepreneurial adventure now; as a side hustle before that two year move mark…IF I was really being serious. Pssssh…. He should have realized I was serious when I started publishing this blog.
Initially I scoffed, and maybe cried a little – where exactly was I going to find the time to do online research and take training classes, create a plan more sophisticated than sticky notes, begin to build the infrastructure for an online site that will meet my needs, get more education, and well – still continue all of the other things that make up this crazy life of ours!?
Remember, my why is to spend more time with our family, and be more available for our girls – it would be counter intuitive to take away from my evenings or weekends at this point. He suggested giving up my gym time. I guess if I was really only lifting 2.5-pound dumbbells that would be reasonable. But, I don’t…and frankly, it would be compromising my mental health too. Not happening. He suggested giving up a weekend nap – which is another of my favorite things. We’ll see…I think I’m going to need that now more than ever.
What AM I going to do? Well, I’m going to transition my early morning routine – dishwasher, laundry, lunches to the evening – right after dinner when I can engage the kids to help too. And use that morning time to pound the keys of this laptop, watch training videos, brainstorm on full sheets of paper, (and probably some sticky notes) before I hit the gym. My alarm is going to kick my ass out of bed at 3:55 a.m. each morning, and I’m going to dedicate that next hour to my Journey to Influence biz planning, 2-3 hours on Wednesday mornings and a few hours on Sunday afternoons before Mom Mode commences.
I’m going to make it happen husband. I’m going to turn my dreams into reality blog readers! You’ll get a first-row seat to the journey too. Lucky duck!
Don’t underestimate this firstborn farmer’s daughter.
Don’t underestimate a girl on a journey.
Thank you for joining me on my journey to influence.