Two days ago was a really stressful day for me. I was in the middle of tough contract negotiations regarding work that involved international travel that would start less than one week later. So yesterday I called up a friend of mine down the street who does landscaping and asked if he had any work I could tag along on. I just needed to get out of the house.
We jumped in the truck and drove over to Oakland for the day and I hauled rocks in a bucket for 6 hours. In addition to getting a farmers tan (noticed this morning in the shower), the work was very therapeutic. Hard work is not appreciated these days and it’s been a long time since I’ve done physical labor like this. Although it was hard work, it felt good. I enjoyed being outside with nothing on my mind (it was like when I was a bike messenger — hard work and low pay.)
Physical labor makes everything seem better and puts life in perspective. The pizza I ate for lunch that day tasted like gourmet food. The beer, the shower, and the sleep I had at the end of the day felt better because I had earned them.
It’s been a long time since I’ve worked construction or cycled for money, but it felt good to be there for a moment. Although my shoulder is a little sore from yesterday I’m going back today to get some more therapy and a better tan.
March 24, 2006 at 2:18 pm
I’ve always been a big fan of physical labor. It always feels good to just get out and make your body work the way it was designed to. Something about taking your body and making everything work together and achieving very real, yet simple, goals makes one feel very accomplished…