blessing or curse

It seems as a carpenter life is one never ending project.
I love my work but wonder if having a proffesion that is so unrelated to home life, it frees up or lets the home life feel more disconnected from Monday through Friday life.
Is your occupation a complete reverse of home life?
Is your occupation not something one could do at home even if they wanted?
I just unloaded nine sheets of plywood and 70 board feet of Poplar, I should have been a shrink
Dribble does ditto.

I own and manage a brand/product design company. This is what it's like.

It demands that I think about it just about 24 hours a day, it's all consuming and has been for nearly 20 years. I get up and think about it in the shower and I go to sleep thinking about it at night. It's the most rewarding thing I ever did and has forged me into the person I am. It demands that I'm always creative and fast thinking and using my imagination to have new ideas, challenge conventional thinking and try something new. I get to invent things and make things and see ideas turned into reality, I get to see the things I did right bring great rewards and the consequences of mistakes hopefully teach me a lesson. I get to be with a bunch of the most talented, interesting people that I've had the pleasure, and good fortune, to pull together around me and most days I feel lucky to be here, (there are bad days too, of course, where I just want to pack it all in though). I love watching the people around me grow and develop and achieve their own ambitions. Sometimes I just take stock, look around at what I helped create and feel so proud. Most important though is that I can be myself, I still enjoy it more than anything else I can think of doing and I wake up every day excited about what I've got myself into. (honest!:lol:)

I live with my beautiful partner, Amy, with our two year old daughter and the twins. This week I also have my 18 year old staying over and my ten year old daughter for the summer, (who now lives in LA). This is what it's like.

It demands that I think about it just about 24 hours a day, it's all consuming and has been for nearly 20 years. I get up and think about it in the shower and I go to sleep thinking about it at night. It's the most rewarding thing I ever did and has forged me into the person I am. It demands that I'm always creative and fast thinking and using my imagination to have new ideas, challenge conventional thinking and try something new. I get to invent things and make things and see ideas turned into reality, I get to see the things I did right bring great rewards and the consequences of mistakes hopefully teach me a lesson. I get to be with a bunch of the most talented, interesting people that I've had the pleasure, and good fortune, to pull together around me and most days I feel lucky to be here, (there are bad days too, of course, where I just want to pack it all in though). I love watching the people around me grow and develop and achieve their own ambitions. Sometimes I just take stock, look around at what I helped create and feel so proud. Most important though is that I can be myself, I still enjoy it more than anything else I can think of doing and I wake up every day excited about what I've got myself into. (honest!:lol:)

The only difference is that the first generates an income and the second consumes it at roughly the same rate!!!!!!!

Sometimes life itself gets in the way of life.

I`m a Commercial Refrigeration mechanic but would not repair my home fridge as thats for Domestic guys , below us Commercial guys
Friends will ask me occasionally if I can look at their home fridge and I pass on a number for a good Domestic Fridge tech that I know.

Have a job that I am fairly apathetic about but I love the fact that once I leave I dont have to think about it at all and a 6 day on 6 day off roster give me lots of time to what ever I want.

I bang tin all day,,,,,,every day,,,,,,squish it,,,,cut it,,, , pound it into place,,,all day every day,,,,I give blood to some degree every day,,every week ,,, every year since I started this,,,,I get paid blood money,,,,,,,I wake at 3:30 every day,,work till 2:00 ,every fricken day,,,,,,sleep from 9:00 to 3:30 AM,,every fookin day,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,at least in me spare time I think only of one thing,,,,what's next for the SD,, the obsession live's on,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,only thing is I can't take it when I go,,,,,,,,,,and that could be any day now,,,,,,mmmmmmmmmmmmmm so what's next

i'm a horse shoer - used to have a family . all i can say is no matter what one does a different hat or a different jacket needs to be put on when you go home. Understand ? You can't bring your work home . Don't carry it around with you at home. People who are good at sports for example - a good basketball player has to put on a whole different mentality to play baseball just as a person who's good at baseball needs to put on a whole new mentality to play tennis. No different than hopping on a superduke - takes a whole different set of skills but skills we're capable of having.

before you walk through the front door of your home put on a new set of skills and feelings , emotions , ground yourself and put that shit together man !!! People have enough sense and brain power to figure this stuff out. It's a practice , turns into a skill , one that improves and grows .

I've been taking Aikido for over 15 years and that realization was one of the biggest take aways for me. When i / we practice Aikido everything else about our life ( our day ) just can't be carried onto the mat while training with our partners . We have to put on a whole new hat/jacket otherwise we're not practicing Aikido . Aikido is about being in the moment and being honest about what's happening in that moment . When it's right we don't carry a preconceived idea of training onto the mat - The best Aikido is just being present / adaptable along with a lot of things that i don't even understand or have discovered yet ( That's my reality )

If i were living with someone again before i walk through the door or meet her for dinner somewhere i put on a Relationship mentality not work mentality or Aikido mentality or SD mentality or whatever ( none of that stuff really works in being present with someone ) ---------------

Maybe i read your post incorrectly and am way out in left field with this response , but anyway - I'm a horseshoer - my fooking hands ache every day - so does my back , horses stink , horses kick and can kill - i put life in the hands of hopefully a higher power every time i shoe a horse as i put myself in the KILL ZONE every time - it's nerve wracking - dangerous - stressful - ( Nails hanging out of horse's hooves that rip through human flesh like hot knife and butter ) - but when i go to aikido i have to put ALL that stuff ( the emotional baggage ) aside in order for my Aikido to be any good at all. Bruce Lee once said " Don't think - FEEL " and " It's about emotional Content " if the contents aren't right shit don't gel !! Gota clear that shit out !!

cheers - I'll shut up now ..

A farrier you say. That is a trip. Seems there is more horsing around on this site than one would think.
I am not envious of your occupation. I am afraid of horses and would not step into the same paddock that was occupied by the aforementioned.
Doubt there are many horses getting shoed on your weekend schedule.
Do you like horses?