Mowing myself healthy

lawn mowingI’m sure the my life as a freelance web-designer isn’t the best for my health. I’m getting RSI from long hours using a mouse and keyboard, I’m sure sitting in the same office chair all day isn’t good for my back and no doubt my eyesight isn’t getting any better staring at these computer monitors all day long either. And that says nothing about the lack of physical exercise I’m getting and the numerous cups of coffee I drink whilst sat here.

It isn’t all bad as it can be quite challenging mentally so at least my brain gets a bit of a work-out, but to be honest I’m sure thinking about web-sites, HTML, PHP and other scripting languages doesn’t really do much for my overall sanity!

However, all is not lost as I am not your run-of -the mill website designer. As many will know, living here in West Wales often means you have to be versatile, so, while I was at university I used to help make ends meet by doing various ‘odd-jobs’ for local people. Most of whom were ME sufferers. When I left university I continued doing some of these. Now, I’ve been helping some of these people out in their gardens and with the odd bit of painting and decorating for 10 years, so I can’t just stop doing it and let them down, so I still spend some time each week doing manual work.

We’ve just had a couple of glorious days here in Wales, so it was my first chance this year to mow some lawns. I spent all day outside working in peoples gardens and despite the blood and sweat, it was, I’m sure good, for me. Physically it has to be good for me, good old-fashioned hard work and fresh-air, what more could a man want! I’m sure it was good for me mentally as well. Lawn mowing, hedge trimming and other such tasks are quite meditative in a way, giving me a chance to either switch off completely or just simply think. I’m sure I end up solving many of the little web-based puzzles and problems that present themselves to me whilst doing such work.

Of course, I’m sure by the end of the autumn I’ll be looking forward to a few months out of the gardens and a little more time in my nice warm comfy office, but at the moment, as long as I am on top of my web-design workloads then mowing lawns and other gardening tasks are actually quite inviting.

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Alan Cole

Alan is a Freelance Website Designer, Sports & Exercise Science Lab Technician and full time Dad & husband with far too many hobbies: Triathlete, Swimming, Cycling, Running, MTBing, Surfing, Windsurfing, SUPing, Gardening, Photography.... The list goes on.