Hi John, thanks for reading and responding — and hats off to you on what sounds like was a long, difficult but worth it career in construction. People who have never done it, really don’t get it.

I’m 32 and wake up as sore as your average 60 year old career long office worker some mornings.

After 15 years (though not straight, not every day by any stretch or the imagination), I find myself involuntarily saying the words “I’m getting too old for this shit”, “ I need to retire soon” and “ I should’ve stayed in school” aloud to myself more and more as of late.

Worse than the physical toll it’s taken though, is the mental at this point. It’s just no longer what I want to be doing, I’ve lost my love for the game so to speak.

While I don’t know I’d be happier in an office setting, I do know the only thing I can picture myself doing for the next 30 plus years, without growing to resent and despise it to the point I am miserable and jaded, is this, which is writing.

I truly believe it’s the one thing I was born to do and never feels like work to me.

You sound like you loved what you did, to at least some extent, which is such an important part of being happy with your life overall, considering how much of our lives we spend at work. I do know exactly what you mean when you mentioned the pride you feel when you pass by something you helped build, knock down, resurface, renovate or remodel. It truly is a remarkable thing and feeling.

However, I believe the version of that meant for me — is seeing what I do with the written word, almost unconsciously at times. Seeing the visceral reactions and responses they get out of people — as well as how much they resonate with complete strangers, some who live halfway across the world.

Thanks for reading and sharing your experience. Congrats on a long career.