I think doing physically draining work can work both ways. I am reminded of a great straight pooler named Tom Walter from New York. Tom, who managed a sixth place finsh one year in the World Open Straight Pool Champioships (1982?), and I used to play some pool together in his prime, and it always seemed to me that Tom seemed to enjoy a game of pool after work more than the next guy, and he seemed to find his highest level on worknights.
I asked him how he managed to play with so much joy and his rather shocking answer was "try climbing telephone poles all day." Unbeknownst to me, Tom was a lineman, a guy who did repair work on telephone lines and had to climb telephone poles to perform his duties. He said he found pool so soothing by comparison, that the joy of playing more than made up for the obvious physical fatigue.
For the record, I never have tried climbing a telephone pole, despite the fact that I always had great respect for Tom and his suggestions.
I asked him how he managed to play with so much joy and his rather shocking answer was "try climbing telephone poles all day." Unbeknownst to me, Tom was a lineman, a guy who did repair work on telephone lines and had to climb telephone poles to perform his duties. He said he found pool so soothing by comparison, that the joy of playing more than made up for the obvious physical fatigue.
For the record, I never have tried climbing a telephone pole, despite the fact that I always had great respect for Tom and his suggestions.
