The Joy of ...... WORK

Bet you thought I was going to say SEX. 

 

No, there's also the Joy of WORK.

 

I took several personality tests back in my Dale Carnegie days.  There was this need or desire to know who I was or am.  One of the things that came from the test was I have a need, maybe need isn't enough, a motivation to see concrete results in whatever I do.  I cannot long be happy doing unproductive (in my eyes) things.

 

The way it was described, I am happiest when I'm digging a hole because I can see the hole AND I can also see the dirt piled next to the hole.  Before and after.  Action and result.  I don't do well where there are no results.  This is probably why as a corporate executive I didn't get on as well as some.  Turn me loose, give me a desired end to get to, I'm unstoppable and passionate.  Create inert-dom (meetings to have meetings and conference calls and memos, and reviews and and and) I am like a caged tiger.  Stop already.  Let's do something.  I am results oriented to a fault.  I don't play well with others.

 

Yesterday I worked outside for much of the day.  It was wonderful.  I'm so sore.  I got so much done.  I put a new chain on my 25 year old Sears chainsaw and cut everything I could find.  There's more to come.  A standing dead tree is an abomination unto the Lord.  I will bring justice and the strong arm of God.

 

I always go thru a metamorphosis every spring.  I'm a lardo all winter long.  Then spring.  Lift tug push pull tear dig rip haul.  I'm so sore at the end of the day I virtually can't walk.  It feels wonderful.  Every muscle pains me.  I lose huge amounts of weight and get in shape again.  It feels so good.  I have a friend who has is a hiker and as a result she has lost a great deal of weight.  She would understand this pain and pleasure.

 

I have tried working out in a gym in winter.  There's no pile of dirt.  I don't make the connection with that machine or treadmill and work.  I know technically it's "work" but I don't know emotionally.  When I work I must have purpose. I wish I could stay in shape in a gym.  I wish I could but unless they have a hole needing digging or filling I'm not going to sign up.  Tried it, didn't like it.

 

I could blame this on my Germanic heritage "Arbeit macht frei".  Or as when I worked for the Fischer's in Germany "Arbeit Arbeit Arbeit".  That was the mission statement for the corporation.  Or as a nurseryman in Tennessee puts it, It's on the letterhead of his nursery, Workie Workie Workie.

 

Two things from all this.  I feel bad for a younger generation some of whom do not know the joy of pure work.  Pleasure of accomplishment.  Joy of the pain that goes with it.  Wonder of the response of the human body to effort.  We have robbed them of the dopamine rush that comes from really hard work.  That is a pity.

 

The second.  I know the day will come (and this is scriptural) when no man can work.  I am 61.  I want to work till I'm 75 if I can.  If my body allowed, to 85.  Retirement is a 4 letter word.  Actually 10 but you know what I mean.  I remember my brother John who loved to garden.  When he could no longer go out and work because of disease it ripped his soul.  I Know relatives of mine who at a cellular level need to be physically busy to have any fullness of life.  There is a supernatural effect from work that causes us to keep our perspective clear.

 

I could go on, there would be no result in that.  Gotta go.  I have work to do.