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Tangentially, the physical labor jobs I had when younger never really tired me out the way that the mental/bureaucratic/political job I have now does. Physical

Tangentially, the physical labor jobs I had when younger never really tired me out the way that the mental/bureaucratic/political job I have now does. Physical work actually energized me, I mean this is all confirmed today as well, we know all the benefits exercise brings on well being. There's something about desk jobs that is frankly soul sucking and literally mentally draining in a way where when the day ends, it's as if you suffer from temporary depression. Even getting motivated to do things you want to do is hard, resorting to the laziest activity is often what happens, phone, social media, television. Sometimes I can't even get myself to play a video game and I love video games. And when the night comes, you'd think sleep is what you need, but that same day of desk job actually gives you insomnia, falling asleep is hard, and while you sleep it's as if all of that mental activity is still happening in your head from the work day. If physical labor work paid me as well and provided the same benefits, I'd probably switch back to it honestly.

tshaddox 5y ago
Couldn’t that just be because you were young and now you’re less so? A long career of physical labor definitely takes a toll on the body. Young people can just take a lot before it catches up.
- didibus 5y ago
  That's possible and hard for me to know unless I were to try one of those jobs again at my age. It's true that physical labor can cause injury that can hunt you later in life. But also: > Sedentary lifestyles increase all causes of mortality, double the risk of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and obesity, and increase the risks of colon cancer, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, lipid disorders, depression and anxiety. So I'm not sure desk jobs are any better. They just create less obvious problems, where a shoulder pain from an old shoulder injury is easy to trace back to the cause, desk job injury caused from sedentary life style are hard to trace back but could be worse. Also, I'm talking about a bit of a different problem, which is not how it leaves you later in life, but how it makes you feel when the day is over. Feeling physically tired can almost be nice, you take a bath and it feels so good. And when you go to sleep you have this nice deep restorative sleep from the physical exhaustion. Your brain isn't tied up with work. And all that.
rodgerd 5y ago
> There's something about desk jobs that is frankly soul sucking Read "Bullshit Jobs".
villedepommes 5y ago
> when younger this may be the key. When I was younger, I don't remember getting tired much no matter what I was doing, programming, studying, gardening.
seanmcdirmid 5y ago
Age difference is important here. Physical labor jobs will work better for young people than old.
- ace2358 5y ago
  Here I sit, at my local farmers market working a stall. Looking around at the farmers and how hard they work, I don’t know many young people that could keep up. Above a certain age and physical condition, maybe. But I know both men and women pushing late 50s that would put a lot of young people to shame.
  - omgwtfbyobbq 5y ago
    People underestimate how much experience and conditioning matter for all jobs. When I started working on an LTL dock, I was shocked by how easy it was for guys more than twice my age to do certain things compared to me even though I was younger, stronger, faster, etc...
  - bryanrasmussen 5y ago
    Probably survivor bias here, you see a bunch of older fit people doing stuff you have a hard time with and you think damn, not realizing how many people have been pushed out of the career over the years due to physical constraints. Aside from that is the matter of physical characteristics. I am over 6 feet, naturally scrawny but bulky due to lots of strength training. There are many jobs in which I would not last because my body is not made for it. One of the worst jobs I ever had was making concrete walls that would be shipped around the west to make big buildings. We were working at a windy area, which would sometimes blow the walls around when moving etc. People died every now and then when accidents happened and they would get crushed by a wall. It was cold and physically grueling, much of the workforce were illegal immigrants who would call in sick almost once per week. At one point a foreman told me how much he appreciated how much I showed up for work - I was calling in sick once per month because I couldn't take it. There was guy there who had been doing the work for 20+ years, he was in astounding shape. He was probably 5 feet tall, extremely wiry, and could walk along a thin concrete wall hanging 20 feet up in the air by two chains without hesitation and if need be walk onto another wall, pick up a tool, turn around and walk onto the hanging one to do something. We would watch him in awe of his abilities. But of course he had done 20+ years of training for this, and had the body type that made him a perfect fit for the job. The other guys who had been there for 20 years worked as hard as him, but they were less well suited to the job than he was.
aquanext 5y ago
This is me.
go_elmo 5y ago
Thats too romantic - physical labour isnt funny when its repetetive and continuous, which most are. Also not using your head is frustrating / degenerative. What helps me most is keeping a balance, making mid day breaks for long runs outside or a nap does miracles. But I agree, it also needs mental relief to regenerate, but doing sports gives at least minimal breaks.
- didibus 5y ago
  You're right, I think I need to be more specific, assembly line work in some factory might count as physical labor, and that might not be any better, I can't say as I've never had that job. I'm thinking more in terms of the article, construction work, farming, and the more pre-industrial kind of physical labor. For me specifically, it was construction work, bus boy, landscaping, janitorial work and military training. All these just involved constantly moving my body in various ways but also I'd say not in a repetitive at risk of RSI kind of way. So it really just felt like exercise.
  - bserge 5y ago
    Yeah, it was great. Until I fucked both of my knees and my back, and have been in pain ever since. It affected me mentally, as well lol. No one helped me, no one even thanked me. Take the mental work. At least you can always exercise enough to be spared them physical injuries.
    - alecst 5y ago
      What happened?
  - after_care 5y ago
    Probably the most common pre-industrial job was farmer, which is super repetitive. Imagine a task like tilling with a hoe, which would be a very repetitive and strong swinging motion.
    - dan-robertson 5y ago
wyldfire 5y ago
I don't know if I totally agree. At my (software) desk job, if I'm working on designing or investigating something it can be very exciting and engrossing. But there are definitely days where it feels like I'm just minding deadlines and priorities and schedules. Those can be very tiring.
SequoiaHope 5y ago
I have a theory that we can eliminate 90% of the required labor in our economy with the following strategy: End “consumerism” behavior where every problem is perceived to have a solution in the form of a quick product you can buy - much of that is a psychological trick played by marketers and rarely solves the real problem. Take note of the goods and services we really need. Things like food, shelter, shoes, etc. Design machines which can produce those vital things in a fully automated or highly automated way. The point of this part is to reduce the marginal cost of one more item as close to zero as possible. This makes sharing easier as it becomes cheaper to share with one more person. Make those machines completely open source, designed for repair and long life. Create a system where people can acquire equal ownership shares in the machines they rely on. For any given machine those users work together to keep the machine operational and producing. Land must be held in common (the legal device used today would be a public land trust) and housing, farmland, and manufacturing space is allotted to people based on need. (Look at the public housing system in Vienna Austria as an example.) Develop a culture where getting rich is not the goal but making sure everyone has what they need is. This has worked in other human societies before so this should be possible. Then everyone shares the output of their machines with their other shareholders. Each person owns shares in many machines. Under this system, there is no ownership class which can suck up all the surplus value. Instead, every person receives the benefit of automation. In such a world I believe the average persons necessary working hours would be maybe 5 hours a week. We could spend our lives with friends and family, or reading and writing, painting or programming. Most of the necessary work would be done by volunteers who enjoy what they are doing. Work that people do not enjoy could be shared in rotation. It’s all a voluntary and market based system but captures the main thrust of Marx’s critique of capitalism - the problem with an ownership class sucking up all the surplus value in society. We could do this. End consumerism, make everything open source, share land, know when you have enough and work to serve others in your community. Anyway that’s my theory.
- Chris2048 5y ago
  > This has worked in other human societies before so this should be possible Which ones?
  - 5y ago
t-3 5y ago
Agreed. Another great thing about physical labor (to me at least) is that you can avoid most of the forced social interactions, politicking, and drama that happens in offices. Go in to work, put in my headphones, do repetitive task, go home. It's simple, keeps me in shape, and doesn't make me loathe myself or my hobbies. If I were skilled and smart enough to get jobs that were more interesting/less evil than setting up corporate infrastructure, administering Windows, or churning out spyware, maybe I would have a different perspective, but I'm not.
- ikr678 5y ago
  The progress, in most physical tasks, is also immediately apparent. Shift 10 pallets of stock, or plough a field? You know how much you have left of the task at a glance. Work through a pile of Jira tickets? That could be a morning or a day of headaches.
dionidium 5y ago
This is the romantic side of physical labor. The downsides are evident to anyone who knows someone who has been in the trades for 25 years. They walk kind of funny, their knees and back are wrecked, and they've spent decades breathing in materials that have devastating effects given prolonged exposure. It's really tough on your body to do physical labor day-in, day-out over the course of a lifetime.
creato 5y ago
Did you have older coworkers in your physical labor job? I did. Those people were not happy or healthy. I think you are looking back through tinted glasses. I also liked my physical labor job when I was young, but I also know it would be terrible when I was 40 or 50.
- didibus 5y ago
  Oh ya I did, and I don't mean that I'd trade my job back for that now, you're treated like shit, you're not paid well, you get no benefits, safety protocols are always subpar. Obviously that's why I'm doing what I do now and didn't pursue those jobs as careers. What I remember though is the nature of the work didn't leave me exhausted, depressed and with insomnia when the day was over. So I'm imagining if those jobs paid just as well, had similarly good benefits, treated you with respect, I would definitely consider trying it out again, maybe I'm just forgetting how much crap your body can take when you're younger I admit, but I'd be curious to compare.
  - quin3 5y ago
    Yea don’t underestimate the impact of youthfulness here. I’d be willing to bet that the same work you do now wouldn’t have the same impact it does today. Though I will say, working in UPS facility during college definitely left me exhausted most days. I was an athlete in good shape, but it was still a very taxing job. Kept me in good shape though, which certainly helped stave off any of the psychological impact of a sedentary office job due to physiological changes in my body.
tiefquart 5y ago
I feel that. I'm quite open and creative but writing poems and bringing 10 different music instruments to a novice+ level won't pay my bills. So I studied some STEM and worked in a field that interests me. But working in consulting brought me to a burnout in just under 2 years. I quit and now have a chill desk job, but even now - I often can't motivate myself and I see no point in sitting 8 hours at a desk, when I can work in 2 bursts of 30mins a day and get all the things done that a urgent. So what then? I google stuff, look at my phone and chat with the one nice guy at work. Apart from social communication, all that time feels so WASTED. And then at home you crave to go online and sit at your desk again, but this time it's a gaming desk. So because it's your hobby its cool - ?. No, honestly it drains your energy as well because it's no contrast to your work setting. Fuck I need a cabin in the woods with a garden and a 15 hour remote job, I guess.
- MeinBlutIstBlau 5y ago
  Glad I'm not the only one without motivation to work but make it look like I do :)
  - eggsmediumrare 5y ago
    I have a feeling there are many of us, but some are too afraid to admit it.
polishdude20 5y ago
I've noticed I don't want to sit and play video games because I sit all day at that desk. The last thing I want to do is sit there more.
MeinBlutIstBlau 5y ago
> Tangentially, the physical labor jobs I had when younger never really tired me out the way that the mental/bureaucratic/political job I have now does. Every single physical labor job person I speak to complains about back issues, being tired, or work significant overtime. They're all stuck and can't shift careers cause they're too far in. >There's something about desk jobs that is frankly soul sucking and literally mentally draining It sounds like you were either in the field for money or are just in a shitty company.
- tonyedgecombe 5y ago
  >It sounds like you were either in the field for money or are just in a shitty company. Isn't that most of office workers. If you are in a role that gives you some fulfilment then you should consider yourself lucky.
  - MeinBlutIstBlau 5y ago
    I guess so. For myself though I had to do almost a decade of soul searching before committing to programming. Didn't get my BS until I was 27. Having worked numerous garbage tier jobs, any of the crap that gets sent my way is nothing in comparison to the low waged crap in those other positions.
pugets 5y ago
While in college, my summer job each year was working for the city in manual labor. "Street specialist" was the job position. I experienced three summers of hot asphalt shoveling, vegetation removal, catch basin cleaning, and traffic flagging. I had a lot of fun working there, and so did most of the other guys who were my age. The job paid well and gave us more freedom than we were used to. But I noticed all of the guys who were aged 40+ had bad backs and were addicted to chewing tobacco. There's only so many OSHA-approved ways of paving a quarter mile stretch of road in one afternoon, and that can take a physical toll on someone's body over decades.
swayvil 5y ago
I was a carpenter, then a coder, now a carpenter again. I strongly prefer carpenter (independent contractor)(and by carpenter I mean generalist). But I still have coding projects.
Svperstar 5y ago
I used to work in a warehouse driving a forklift. I will take a desk job any day of the week over that hell.
refurb 5y ago
The best I had was in a chemical plant. The work was highly intellectual but it also required implementation which you couldn’t do in an office chair. Probably walked 2 miles a day and stood for about 4-5 hours in periods varying from 30 min to 3 hours. Nothing overtly physical. I have done hard manual labor jobs and they kicked my ass when I was in my 20’s. Couldn’t do it now. Not without some damage.
Karishma1234fff 5y ago
Not sure what work you did but working on farms was something I despised. It was terrible work and made me depressed and feel like shit.
steve_adams_86 5y ago
All I remember of physical labor is disappointment as rain got through my rain gear, biting wind on a cold day, unable to feel my hands, fatigue, repetitive stress aches, beating sun. Hoping for mild weather everyday. Hoping for small orders so I can fit my work in easier. It was hard. I got paid terribly. It motivated the hell out of me to get out.
bratwurst3000 5y ago
I worked as a carpenter for several years and also as a health care worker and those jobs gave me a satisfaction that my desk job can’t give me. But I saw coworkers, that worked their whole life, completely destroyed by these jobs. They seem all way older then they are. At my desk job most people are health conscious and trying to avoid the bad health effects of office jobs. Most people in the other jobs where just working and and not caring about themselves. Mostly because they where not aware or didn’t care about long time negativ heath effects. Now I work freelance IT jobs and sometimes I work as a carpenter just for the change. But honestly if you have the possibility go for the desk job and do sports.
daddylongstroke 5y ago
Completely agree. My most enjoyable job was working shipping at a factory (think playing tetris while loading/unloading trailers all day). Farming however, is my most enjoyable 'value-generating' activity as opposed to job. I highly recommend it: getting more than adequate daily exercise while providing most of your family's food needs.

tshaddox 5y ago

Couldn’t that just be because you were young and now you’re less so? A long career of physical labor definitely takes a toll on the body. Young people can just take a lot before it catches up.

didibus 5y ago
That's possible and hard for me to know unless I were to try one of those jobs again at my age. It's true that physical labor can cause injury that can hunt you later in life. But also: > Sedentary lifestyles increase all causes of mortality, double the risk of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and obesity, and increase the risks of colon cancer, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, lipid disorders, depression and anxiety. So I'm not sure desk jobs are any better. They just create less obvious problems, where a shoulder pain from an old shoulder injury is easy to trace back to the cause, desk job injury caused from sedentary life style are hard to trace back but could be worse. Also, I'm talking about a bit of a different problem, which is not how it leaves you later in life, but how it makes you feel when the day is over. Feeling physically tired can almost be nice, you take a bath and it feels so good. And when you go to sleep you have this nice deep restorative sleep from the physical exhaustion. Your brain isn't tied up with work. And all that.

rodgerd 5y ago

> There's something about desk jobs that is frankly soul sucking Read "Bullshit Jobs".

villedepommes 5y ago

> when younger this may be the key. When I was younger, I don't remember getting tired much no matter what I was doing, programming, studying, gardening.

seanmcdirmid 5y ago

Age difference is important here. Physical labor jobs will work better for young people than old.

ace2358 5y ago
Here I sit, at my local farmers market working a stall. Looking around at the farmers and how hard they work, I don’t know many young people that could keep up. Above a certain age and physical condition, maybe. But I know both men and women pushing late 50s that would put a lot of young people to shame.
- omgwtfbyobbq 5y ago
  People underestimate how much experience and conditioning matter for all jobs. When I started working on an LTL dock, I was shocked by how easy it was for guys more than twice my age to do certain things compared to me even though I was younger, stronger, faster, etc...
- bryanrasmussen 5y ago
  Probably survivor bias here, you see a bunch of older fit people doing stuff you have a hard time with and you think damn, not realizing how many people have been pushed out of the career over the years due to physical constraints. Aside from that is the matter of physical characteristics. I am over 6 feet, naturally scrawny but bulky due to lots of strength training. There are many jobs in which I would not last because my body is not made for it. One of the worst jobs I ever had was making concrete walls that would be shipped around the west to make big buildings. We were working at a windy area, which would sometimes blow the walls around when moving etc. People died every now and then when accidents happened and they would get crushed by a wall. It was cold and physically grueling, much of the workforce were illegal immigrants who would call in sick almost once per week. At one point a foreman told me how much he appreciated how much I showed up for work - I was calling in sick once per month because I couldn't take it. There was guy there who had been doing the work for 20+ years, he was in astounding shape. He was probably 5 feet tall, extremely wiry, and could walk along a thin concrete wall hanging 20 feet up in the air by two chains without hesitation and if need be walk onto another wall, pick up a tool, turn around and walk onto the hanging one to do something. We would watch him in awe of his abilities. But of course he had done 20+ years of training for this, and had the body type that made him a perfect fit for the job. The other guys who had been there for 20 years worked as hard as him, but they were less well suited to the job than he was.

aquanext 5y ago

This is me.

go_elmo 5y ago

Thats too romantic - physical labour isnt funny when its repetetive and continuous, which most are. Also not using your head is frustrating / degenerative. What helps me most is keeping a balance, making mid day breaks for long runs outside or a nap does miracles. But I agree, it also needs mental relief to regenerate, but doing sports gives at least minimal breaks.

didibus 5y ago
You're right, I think I need to be more specific, assembly line work in some factory might count as physical labor, and that might not be any better, I can't say as I've never had that job. I'm thinking more in terms of the article, construction work, farming, and the more pre-industrial kind of physical labor. For me specifically, it was construction work, bus boy, landscaping, janitorial work and military training. All these just involved constantly moving my body in various ways but also I'd say not in a repetitive at risk of RSI kind of way. So it really just felt like exercise.
- bserge 5y ago
  Yeah, it was great. Until I fucked both of my knees and my back, and have been in pain ever since. It affected me mentally, as well lol. No one helped me, no one even thanked me. Take the mental work. At least you can always exercise enough to be spared them physical injuries.
  - alecst 5y ago
    What happened?
- after_care 5y ago
  Probably the most common pre-industrial job was farmer, which is super repetitive. Imagine a task like tilling with a hoe, which would be a very repetitive and strong swinging motion.
  - dan-robertson 5y ago

wyldfire 5y ago

I don't know if I totally agree. At my (software) desk job, if I'm working on designing or investigating something it can be very exciting and engrossing. But there are definitely days where it feels like I'm just minding deadlines and priorities and schedules. Those can be very tiring.

SequoiaHope 5y ago

I have a theory that we can eliminate 90% of the required labor in our economy with the following strategy: End “consumerism” behavior where every problem is perceived to have a solution in the form of a quick product you can buy - much of that is a psychological trick played by marketers and rarely solves the real problem. Take note of the goods and services we really need. Things like food, shelter, shoes, etc. Design machines which can produce those vital things in a fully automated or highly automated way. The point of this part is to reduce the marginal cost of one more item as close to zero as possible. This makes sharing easier as it becomes cheaper to share with one more person. Make those machines completely open source, designed for repair and long life. Create a system where people can acquire equal ownership shares in the machines they rely on. For any given machine those users work together to keep the machine operational and producing. Land must be held in common (the legal device used today would be a public land trust) and housing, farmland, and manufacturing space is allotted to people based on need. (Look at the public housing system in Vienna Austria as an example.) Develop a culture where getting rich is not the goal but making sure everyone has what they need is. This has worked in other human societies before so this should be possible. Then everyone shares the output of their machines with their other shareholders. Each person owns shares in many machines. Under this system, there is no ownership class which can suck up all the surplus value. Instead, every person receives the benefit of automation. In such a world I believe the average persons necessary working hours would be maybe 5 hours a week. We could spend our lives with friends and family, or reading and writing, painting or programming. Most of the necessary work would be done by volunteers who enjoy what they are doing. Work that people do not enjoy could be shared in rotation. It’s all a voluntary and market based system but captures the main thrust of Marx’s critique of capitalism - the problem with an ownership class sucking up all the surplus value in society. We could do this. End consumerism, make everything open source, share land, know when you have enough and work to serve others in your community. Anyway that’s my theory.

Chris2048 5y ago
> This has worked in other human societies before so this should be possible Which ones?
- 5y ago

t-3 5y ago

Agreed. Another great thing about physical labor (to me at least) is that you can avoid most of the forced social interactions, politicking, and drama that happens in offices. Go in to work, put in my headphones, do repetitive task, go home. It's simple, keeps me in shape, and doesn't make me loathe myself or my hobbies. If I were skilled and smart enough to get jobs that were more interesting/less evil than setting up corporate infrastructure, administering Windows, or churning out spyware, maybe I would have a different perspective, but I'm not.

ikr678 5y ago
The progress, in most physical tasks, is also immediately apparent. Shift 10 pallets of stock, or plough a field? You know how much you have left of the task at a glance. Work through a pile of Jira tickets? That could be a morning or a day of headaches.

dionidium 5y ago

This is the romantic side of physical labor. The downsides are evident to anyone who knows someone who has been in the trades for 25 years. They walk kind of funny, their knees and back are wrecked, and they've spent decades breathing in materials that have devastating effects given prolonged exposure. It's really tough on your body to do physical labor day-in, day-out over the course of a lifetime.

creato 5y ago

Did you have older coworkers in your physical labor job? I did. Those people were not happy or healthy. I think you are looking back through tinted glasses. I also liked my physical labor job when I was young, but I also know it would be terrible when I was 40 or 50.

didibus 5y ago
Oh ya I did, and I don't mean that I'd trade my job back for that now, you're treated like shit, you're not paid well, you get no benefits, safety protocols are always subpar. Obviously that's why I'm doing what I do now and didn't pursue those jobs as careers. What I remember though is the nature of the work didn't leave me exhausted, depressed and with insomnia when the day was over. So I'm imagining if those jobs paid just as well, had similarly good benefits, treated you with respect, I would definitely consider trying it out again, maybe I'm just forgetting how much crap your body can take when you're younger I admit, but I'd be curious to compare.
- quin3 5y ago
  Yea don’t underestimate the impact of youthfulness here. I’d be willing to bet that the same work you do now wouldn’t have the same impact it does today. Though I will say, working in UPS facility during college definitely left me exhausted most days. I was an athlete in good shape, but it was still a very taxing job. Kept me in good shape though, which certainly helped stave off any of the psychological impact of a sedentary office job due to physiological changes in my body.

tiefquart 5y ago

I feel that. I'm quite open and creative but writing poems and bringing 10 different music instruments to a novice+ level won't pay my bills. So I studied some STEM and worked in a field that interests me. But working in consulting brought me to a burnout in just under 2 years. I quit and now have a chill desk job, but even now - I often can't motivate myself and I see no point in sitting 8 hours at a desk, when I can work in 2 bursts of 30mins a day and get all the things done that a urgent. So what then? I google stuff, look at my phone and chat with the one nice guy at work. Apart from social communication, all that time feels so WASTED. And then at home you crave to go online and sit at your desk again, but this time it's a gaming desk. So because it's your hobby its cool - ?. No, honestly it drains your energy as well because it's no contrast to your work setting. Fuck I need a cabin in the woods with a garden and a 15 hour remote job, I guess.

MeinBlutIstBlau 5y ago
Glad I'm not the only one without motivation to work but make it look like I do :)
- eggsmediumrare 5y ago
  I have a feeling there are many of us, but some are too afraid to admit it.

polishdude20 5y ago

I've noticed I don't want to sit and play video games because I sit all day at that desk. The last thing I want to do is sit there more.

MeinBlutIstBlau 5y ago

> Tangentially, the physical labor jobs I had when younger never really tired me out the way that the mental/bureaucratic/political job I have now does. Every single physical labor job person I speak to complains about back issues, being tired, or work significant overtime. They're all stuck and can't shift careers cause they're too far in. >There's something about desk jobs that is frankly soul sucking and literally mentally draining It sounds like you were either in the field for money or are just in a shitty company.

tonyedgecombe 5y ago
>It sounds like you were either in the field for money or are just in a shitty company. Isn't that most of office workers. If you are in a role that gives you some fulfilment then you should consider yourself lucky.
- MeinBlutIstBlau 5y ago
  I guess so. For myself though I had to do almost a decade of soul searching before committing to programming. Didn't get my BS until I was 27. Having worked numerous garbage tier jobs, any of the crap that gets sent my way is nothing in comparison to the low waged crap in those other positions.

pugets 5y ago

While in college, my summer job each year was working for the city in manual labor. "Street specialist" was the job position. I experienced three summers of hot asphalt shoveling, vegetation removal, catch basin cleaning, and traffic flagging. I had a lot of fun working there, and so did most of the other guys who were my age. The job paid well and gave us more freedom than we were used to. But I noticed all of the guys who were aged 40+ had bad backs and were addicted to chewing tobacco. There's only so many OSHA-approved ways of paving a quarter mile stretch of road in one afternoon, and that can take a physical toll on someone's body over decades.

swayvil 5y ago

I was a carpenter, then a coder, now a carpenter again. I strongly prefer carpenter (independent contractor)(and by carpenter I mean generalist). But I still have coding projects.

Svperstar 5y ago

I used to work in a warehouse driving a forklift. I will take a desk job any day of the week over that hell.

refurb 5y ago

The best I had was in a chemical plant. The work was highly intellectual but it also required implementation which you couldn’t do in an office chair. Probably walked 2 miles a day and stood for about 4-5 hours in periods varying from 30 min to 3 hours. Nothing overtly physical. I have done hard manual labor jobs and they kicked my ass when I was in my 20’s. Couldn’t do it now. Not without some damage.

Karishma1234fff 5y ago

Not sure what work you did but working on farms was something I despised. It was terrible work and made me depressed and feel like shit.

steve_adams_86 5y ago

All I remember of physical labor is disappointment as rain got through my rain gear, biting wind on a cold day, unable to feel my hands, fatigue, repetitive stress aches, beating sun. Hoping for mild weather everyday. Hoping for small orders so I can fit my work in easier. It was hard. I got paid terribly. It motivated the hell out of me to get out.

bratwurst3000 5y ago

I worked as a carpenter for several years and also as a health care worker and those jobs gave me a satisfaction that my desk job can’t give me. But I saw coworkers, that worked their whole life, completely destroyed by these jobs. They seem all way older then they are. At my desk job most people are health conscious and trying to avoid the bad health effects of office jobs. Most people in the other jobs where just working and and not caring about themselves. Mostly because they where not aware or didn’t care about long time negativ heath effects. Now I work freelance IT jobs and sometimes I work as a carpenter just for the change. But honestly if you have the possibility go for the desk job and do sports.

daddylongstroke 5y ago

Completely agree. My most enjoyable job was working shipping at a factory (think playing tetris while loading/unloading trailers all day). Farming however, is my most enjoyable 'value-generating' activity as opposed to job. I highly recommend it: getting more than adequate daily exercise while providing most of your family's food needs.