Anna Reeve: How I Get Sh!t Done Amidst Chaos
Am I a hustler? Mmm, think again ladies. I’d say I’m an innately lazy person, and I happen to have married a man who’s *exactly* the same. Sometimes Jay and I have to look each other in the eye and give each other honest pep talks, like:
“Come on babe, we need to get off the couch. We need to get shit done.”
But getting shit done is a bit of a fine art, and the Reeve tribe’s definitely had to learn how to hustle over the last few years.
It all began in a bottle of wine. Actually, make that “many bottles.”
We’re nowhere near where we want to be, and we’re only going to get busier. But we’ve certainly got a bloody lot on. I trace it all back to one boozy evening a few years back when Jay and I fell — literally and metaphorically — into rosé. We’d had a few too many glasses of pink nectar, in what we like to call a “rosé frenzy,” when a mate said:
“Hey this is crazy, but do you want to buy 14 thousand litres of rosé?”
Naturally, it seemed like the best idea in the world, so we said yes.
Right now, we’re juggling all the balls.
Fast-forward two years and we’re living in the Bay of Plenty, running a rosé company alongside two other friends called Master of Ceremonies, and wondering on earth what we’ve got ourselves into. We’ve bottled two vintages, we’re perfecting our third currently, annnnnd we’re about to release a new variety very soon!
We’re constantly running/flying/driving off at high speed to spread the word about our little project, and Jay’s actually running Cellar Control at the same time (another company in the alcohol industry) as well as lending his voice to quite a few different brands in their advertising. That has him up in Auckland multiple times a week, so we’re all over the show.
I’ve got my own things on the go too: I write a bit for The Bay of Plenty Times, and keep up with a whole bunch of amazing ladies on my blog and Instagram.
Oh, and there’s a household to run too. Did I mention our identical twin boys? Oscar and Hunter (aka The Reeve Nuggets) are the centre of our chaotic little world.
So how I/we get sh!t done? Well…
#1: I don’t let chaos scare me
I don’t get wound up about things too easily, and I’m not a huge OCD freak about tidying. (Remember that thing I said about laziness?) Sure, if life/the house is turning to shit and there’s 20 loads of washing screaming to be folded… I’ll get to that point where I’ll be like: “AAAH. I NEED TO GET IT DONE.” But otherwise, I can look past it and get on with my day.
#2: Jay helps out heaps.
Jay’s never had a 9-5 job, and when the boys were born, he was home to help by 8am in the morning. He loves getting out with them, being really hands-on, and spending as much time with them as I do. It’s awesome.
#3. Oscar and Hunter are also good with chaos.
Being twins, they’re very resilient. They’re very happy with their own company, too. That works in our favour: most kids will be like “Mum, come play lego with me!” but they’ve already got their brother there, their best mate. They don’t care about me. *Sob*
#4: We’re a good little team.
Most women don’t get to see their partners a lot if they’re at an office most of the day, but Jay and I spend SO much time together. We’re good with that! We can coexist and and have all of those necessary conversations (you know the ones) while still co-working well.
If the wheels come off: speak up! ‘Cause if you don’t ask, you don’t get.
Let’s face it, the wheels are gonna come off. That’s life. But when they do, I’m all about asking for help.
I didn’t use to be. Actually, I started my blog because of my (up to then) unspoken experience with postnatal depression and anxiety. I had an awful pregnancy, and an emergency C-section. After my children got out of NICU, they had reflux and colic for a year, and cried 23 hours a day.
I was dying on the inside, and lying to everyone about it. But sometimes, friends and family just can’t see the warning signs. That’s when I learned that you don’t necessarily get the support you need unless you ask for it.
Since then, I’ve made a real effort to connect honestly with people, and keep it real during times of chaos… Even if that means showing everything, warts and all.
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