Everyone has different abilities and talents, and your upbringing will have had a big influence on determining your attitude to being self-sufficient. You might be the sort of woman who enjoys doing her own decorating, fiddling with her car’s engine or putting up a set of shelves of an evening. Or you might hate the idea of doing any of those things yourself, and get someone in to do it for you. It really doesn’t matter if you fall into one or other camp, or somewhere in between; what does matter is whether you’re happy to be where you are.
Improve Your Practical Skills
Pretty much everyone will get a flat tire at some point in their life, so it’s a good example of how different women deal with a practical situation. For many women, it’s a case of getting straight on the phone to a breakdown or relay service, because they have no interest in changing a wheel themselves and are happy to wait for the experts to come and sort it out. For others, their response is to get the trunk open, take out their tools and start jacking the car up. Ten minutes later the new wheel’s on, and they’re off again; maybe a little oily and with a few swear words being used, but just as content as the woman waiting for the recovery service.
Know When To Leave It To The Experts
You may wish you were able to change her own wheel, but may not know how, and call recovery with a sinking heart. Or you may have no clue where your stop tap is for your water supply, and start to panic when you come home to a flooded bathroom. You might need an expert to clear clogged drain or sink problems, but don’t to feel helpless for not knowing how to turn off the water until the plumber arrives! Sometimes it’s best to leave it to the experts to ensure an efficient job is done. This especially applies if you have a hectic schedule and minimum spare time.
Expand Your Skillset
If you’re not happy about lacking the skills for a job you’d like to be able to do yourself, then the answer is to get educated. Many girls will have had parents who encouraged them to be independent and learn practical skills, but in other families, things may have been drawn on more gender-traditional lines, or the emphasis may have been on academic learning over practical skills. If you didn’t get that practical education when you were growing up, you’ll find there are evening classes or college courses available for almost any subject under the sun. For example, there are some great introductory courses on basic car maintenance that will show you how to change a wheel quickly and safely. If it’s just the odd job you wish you knew, find a good book or an authoritative website and learn about all those little jobs like turning the water off, changing a light bulb, or sorting out a blown fuse.
It doesn’t matter whether you want to leave everything to an expert or do as much as you can yourself. What matters is that if you want to be self-sufficient, you equip yourself with the knowledge to carry out these practical tasks safely.