Stoicism and Voluntary Discomfort

[bzzzt]

I had a post in the DIY section that touched on some foundation problems on my house and needing to repair them. Over the last month, in my spare time, I've been tuckpointing brick, busting up my concrete patio, digging a 3' deep by 1' wide trench around my house, and putting in drain tile.

Most people would see this as a total crap job and be scrambling to find someone else to do it. You're dirty the entire time, lots of heavy lifting, running wheel barrows of spoils to a dump pile, drilling through 16" of foundation bent over in a trench, running a grinder through mortar joints. However, my body feels better than it's felt in 2-3 years of falling into a sedentary, supervisory role at work instead of busting ass everyday (construction).

By taking what most people would see as a huge negative and turning it into a positive, I've not only bettered myself but saved a bunch of money in the process. Everyone I tell about the process can't believe I'm not hiring it out or renting heavy equipment to do the digging.

There are times it sucks, but it's a lot better than wasting my life sitting on the couch watching TV with an aching back due to inactivity.

[WildJager]

I love doing construction and manual labor for just the reasons you described.  It's a great feeling producing something, and you get in better shape ina much more useful way than sitting in a gym.  My family thinks it's crazy that we volunteer our time and effort to help out with projects around the house whenever we visit on vacation (but they sure enjoy the free labor!).  I occasionally volunteer at habitats for humanity, which is a win win for us.  They get labor, I get taught construction for free.  It's great!

[2ndTimer]

I was thinking something similar the other day as I rolled out a bunch of flat bread with a rolling pin.  It makes so much more sense to do it that way than to buy the bread at a bakery and then go to the gym to work out on a machine that mimics the action of using a rolling pin.

[dcheesi]

Yeah, I started riding my exercise bike while listening to the morning news program, only to realize that it's foolish to do that when I could be using that effort to clean and maintain the household instead. For the most part I can still listen to radio, and meanwhile I'm getting the house in a lot better shape (especially important now that a move is on the horizon).

Though now I'm thinking I might need to jump on the bike for a minute just to get the high-intensity burst out the way; that's one thing that I'm not getting much of doing housework and minor improvements.

[AM43]

I've done countless projects where hard manual labor was required.
Like others say, people look at me and think I lost my marbles doing projects like that.
Last project I did back in April I had to build 40' of steps leading to a lake.
Saying it was labor  intensive and physically punishing project would be understatement, since I had to bring all the materials
and tools about 300' to job location, dig tranches, handle heavy lumber, haul 7 tones of stone etc.
I did hire local guy to help me, but it was not much of expense compare to hiring company to do it.
In the end it was all worth it.
Project came out nice.
I saved $2500 doing it myself.
I lost 10lbs in 3 days and on top of everything get complements how in shape I look.
So quit your bikes, exercises etc and start working on building something. LOL