I Sweat Now, for a Good Reason

My life has been spent with my head in a book. Words and myself are rather well acquainted, perhaps even friends. I never fancied myself the type to do physical labor; quite frankly, I didn’t think I was built for it. Art, education, and anything that worked the muscle in my skull was more my speed, until recently. For the first time in my life, physical labor was something I was getting up in the morning to do. The difference was that I finally had a reason to care about it, not just look at is as something exhausting and sweat inducing.

From a young age, I spent the majority of my time reading books, playing videos games, and doing various forms of art. These things were truly my passion and could keep me entertained for days, perhaps even weeks, on end. I could read a book, or work on a story, for an entire day without stopping. I wouldn’t break eye contact; I would stare that thing down, and win the contest. The thought of ever walking outside to pick up a hammer, well, that was for some other man. I had zero interest in doing it, which in the end, meant I had zero skill in it as well. Skill requires time and energy, two things I was not about to give this sweaty grease monkey. I’ll stay right inside my air-conditioned room and drink my coffee. Now as the sound of the keyboard echoes through the room, it makes you wonder, what changed? Why am I finally picking up the metaphorical, and literal, hammer and pounding away the hours? Well, I finally, actually, truly give a shit about something.

The moment Nick mentioned the work he wanted to put into Ixion was the same moment I wanted to slap his beautiful face and pray that some sense entered his brain during the moment of impact. Me, Jake, the artist type, do physical work? I don’t think so. I would much rather take myself down to the boat show and find some turn key boat, swipe the credit card, and set sail. Except, guess what Jake, that wasn’t the reality. First of all, we couldn’t afford some turnkey ready boat. Those giant floating bits of fiberglass are extremely expensive. It was money that we didn’t have, and wouldn’t have, for years to come. So, the only option was to put in the time and effort and make our boat what we wanted it to be. Honestly, I still wasn’t convinced. I didn’t think I had it in me to do all of this work. Not only did I hate it with a fiery passion, I just didn’t have the skillset to do it. I’m a filmmaker, a writer, an actor, a person who doesn’t know how to fiberglass a boat. So, what use would I be to Nick? Flash-forward several months, I turned out to be quite handy.

As the work began, we started with small projects. Sand and refinish some wood, and fix the port lights. Easy peazy, finish in one week, and move on to the next project. I will prove that I can do anything, I will win, and I will laugh in the face of the person I was two weeks ago. Except, like life, it wasn’t even remotely simple. Things went askew and this simple project of redoing the port lights turned into a mountain of a project where we built frameless port lights to install on the boat. Turns out, I can actually do physical labor. I just needed a reason to actually do it; a reason that I never had before. For the first time in my life, I had something worth working for.

Before this boat, I hated physical labor because I found it to be pointless. Why get sweaty and dirty for something I completely hated? Why fix up a condo that I inevitably don’t want to live in? Why fix the house that I hated growing up in? Never before had I had a reason to actually want to pick up a hammer and learn how to hit a nail. But with this boat, and this show, I had a reason to actually wake up in the morning, and get sweaty. I had a reason to learn how to fiberglass. I had a reason to learn how to apply gelcoat. I had a reason, for the first time, to learn all of these skills. Sure, some intelligent person would argue that I may have not had a reason to want to learn these things, but I definitely had a need to learn them long before now. And I would say to that person, shut up. This isn’t about a need for something, but a reason to not hate something. To actually not dread the thing you know you have to do. For that, I am truly thankful. Thankful that I have found something that gave me a reason to learn new useful skills. Skills that I can take the bank if I ever needed to. Skills that push my dreams, and entertaining you all, towards the future.

So, in the end, I’m thankful Nick made this suggestion to do all this work, especially the port lights. When he asks me again to do this for the next boat. I will laugh, give a cute smile, and tell him to hire someone. Just kidding, I will face the challenge head on knowing that I can do it, do it well, and not dread it in the process. What more can someone ask for? Chasing their dream and not hating the way of making it happen. That’s happiness right there buddy.