Instagram VS Reality Of Working With Your Spouse

Social Media often puts on a display of this happy, joyful life that people live. While I truly believe I am living a happy and fulfilling life, there are also many challenges that we face in our day to day lives. Don’t get me wrong, I love working with my husband day in and day out. He is my absolute best friend and we do love spending as much time as possible together. However, with that comes the trials and tribulations of ranch life with your spouse.

Work on the ranch isn’t always the beautiful life checking cows at sunrise or moving pairs in pastures full of lush, green grass. It’s often dirty, stressful, frustrating, time consuming, and the list could go on. Whether it’s treating a hurt animal, fencing through the long hot summer days, or working cattle on the cold, snowy days, temperaments can flare when the work is intense.

You hear people say “There’s something about men and cattle….”

There’s nothing that will make your husband appreciate your help more than you walking back to the house after an unnecessary blow up. These instances have thankfully been few and far between, but working cattle together can definitely test how thick your skin is. My husband kindly told me back in our early years of our relationship “not to feel butt hurt about getting yelled at while working cattle,” because every ranch he worked on he got yelled at at some point and that’s how he learned. I had to share with him that there’s a difference between yelling at the hired hand that is getting paid versus your girlfriend who chooses to work alongside you free of charge. Now I won’t lie about spouting off a swear word or two and raising my voice a bit when working cattle these days. My skin has thickened since the early years, and I’ve learned to dish it right back to him when needed! Also, my husband has learned that yes my way can often work just as well (or sometimes even better) than what he had in mind.

We’ve figured out that open communication is KEY. We don’t hold in our feelings and emotions towards each other. We let it all out and sort out our issues right then and there, so we can move on and get our work done. This way we can leave the problems in the working corrals and still go home and go to bed next to each other.

Is working with your spouse easy? No not at all. Is it worth it? Hands down, yes. I wouldn’t want to do things any other way! We are building our dream together, and we know that that path isn’t always sunshine and roses. Some days those storms hit us, but we know that there’s always a rainbow after the storm!