What is your favorite wellness activity?
Classic automobile restoration
How long have you been doing it?
3 years
How did you get started?
My wife had an idea of buying a old pick up truck from a local car show. We looked at it and decided to restore it. I ended up doing all of the work myself and transformed the truck into a really nice vehicle. It took three years to complete.
How does this activity impact your mental, physical, and / or emotional well-being?
This is a great break from the office and OR. When I am building a car or truck, I can really apply the planning aspect of approaching the issue that I am facing and how to solve the problem. The reward is that once solved, you get to drive the automobile and see how it performs. I find this also stimulates the entire problem solving skill set and helps to approach problems from a different perspective.
How does this activity bring wellness to your life when other activities have not?
I work out for physical fitness. That is rewarding on a different level. But building a car that you get to later drive and know that you did all of the work, is very rewarding. You can certainly just go out and buy something and that might can some appreciation, but when have the project that is completed by your own hands and the project is certainly “built, not bought”, that gains a whole other level of respect.