When is Work Not?

While visiting family in Oregon, I wanted to pick up a few fly tying supplies before heading home to New Jersey. Ariel and I jumped into our rental car and went to Northwest Fly Fishing Outfitters in Portland. As we stepped in the door of the shop, we received an enthusiastic greeting.

“Can I help you? What are you looking for – I can help you find it!”
Normally if a sales person stood directly in front of me the moment I stepped through the door, giving me no time or physical space, I would find it extremely off-putting. In this case, I took a breath and answered, “Yes, I am looking for blue rabbit zonker strips.”
“Over here,” he said.
Weaving his way through racks of clothing, the fellow led us directly to the display of materials we needed.
“Do you want regular or micro strips?” he asked.
“Regular,” I replied and he handed me a pack.
“Do you need any more purple marabou?” Ariel asked me.
Before I could answer, the guy picked up a package of purple feathers explaining, “Fish don’t see in the same way we do, so they don’t actually see the color purple so well. You should use dark blue instead.”
“I’m tying steelhead flies,” I replied semi-distractedly as I held a couple of packages of the blue zonker strips, weighing in my mind if I needed both the royal blue and the navy.
“Oh, those are super easy to make,” he chattered on and began to explain the steps.

Sensing my rhythm and desire to peruse the materials on my own, Ariel took over the conversation.
“What’s your name?” Ariel asked.
“Blayke.”
“How long have you been working here?”
“Six years.”
“Wow – how old are you?”
“Eleven.”

Blayke, as it turns out, was the son of one of the fly shop employees. He was extremely knowledgeable about materials and where they were located in the store and about fly tying in general. He literally bubbled with enthusiasm and wanted to help. To him it wasn’t “work.” To him it was an ecstatic summer Thursday morning on the job. In fact, when I mentioned I might return the following day for additional supplies, Blayke said he would be more than happy to help me – only to be reminded by his dad that he was leaving the next morning on a family vacation. He seemed disappointed to be going away.

I remembered when I was enthusiastic like that. When I stayed awake, unable to sleep because I was so excited about the day ahead – at times it still happens that way.

I sometimes ask my clients, “When did work become work? When did you get the idea that being at work is a chore and fun only happens when you have a day off or go on vacation?”

As I’ve shifted from being the victim of my life to the author of my life, I have created the possibility for fun in everything I do. Instead of having to go to work, I get to go to work. It’s an opportunity for self-expression no matter what I am doing. For I have found that in the moments I’ve approached working as if I had to, even if I enjoyed it, the complaint was still there in the background, robbing me of satisfaction.

It is likely I will be “working” tomorrow and it will be fun. Fun happens whenever I am doing what I am doing as if it is my idea.