So this is a little “get to know Taryn” moment on the HYD blog. Consider this my journal entry.
Matt and Taryn McLean
Let me just start by saying, I never saw this coming. As an athlete who has always loved my job in fitness, no one could’ve predicted this shift in vocation, especially not me. My husband has reminded me a couple times as I’ve recapped the birth of Help You Dwell that I didn’t go looking for this, HYD found me. Now, several months later with a few jobs under my belt, I can genuinely say, “This is where my heart belongs!”
All the years I spent guiding my fitness clients to achieve their goals is so similar to what I get to do now in clients’ homes. I’m so thankful I’ve been given this opportunity to encourage others to find freedom in their lives in a new way. Although I don’t have a background in design nor am I terribly OCD about anything really, it has been obvious as HYD came together that Home Organization & Staging makes me come alive just as working with my personal training clients did along their fitness journeys.
My husband and I both share a passion for restoring a living space. He owns a company that he would say is a “Residential Redevelopment Company”. Essentially that means he loves remodeling and restoring family homes. I love creating a living area so that people can feel free from their stuff to enjoy family, guests, free time, rest or whatever they need. The icing on the cake is that I get to do this with Caroline.
“Don't own so much clutter that you will be relieved to see your house catch fire.”
― Wendell Berry, Farming: a hand book
As I’ve reflected on my 18 or so years in the fitness world, I’ve learned the importance of the service provider/client relationship and how I cherish it so much. I love to get to know people, to find out what makes them come alive and then to encourage them in that area. Of course, this relationship is not a one-way street. The encouragement, inspiration, and wisdom clients have shared with me have been priceless. So much of who I am today and who I aspire to be has come from those who willingly shared their lives with me. Walking though the homes of my HYD clients, I feel the exact same way. I want their home to be the place they can feel best in their own skin, the place where they can laugh the hardest, rest the most peaceful and enjoy just being. HYD clients have told their stories with their family photos, been honest about not getting it all done and then been willing to ask for help, which we all need – me included!
I hope HYD gets the chance to get to know you, encourage you, be inspired by you and that I get to be a part of it.