Work is not antithetical to recreation. The inescapable dichotomy within time allocation  doesn’t demand  disjunction. That is to say, it is more appropriate to consider work and recreation as complimentary. And complimentary things aren’t better and worse. They are different and necessarily different.

Labor and rest need one another.

Misconceptions about this come from a number of places. Some of us are overworked. Jobs, then, are seen as the enemy of fun. Some of us are (believe it or not) over-recreated. Jobs, then, are seen as the barrier between us and our true selves. In the western world, an errant interpretation of the fall of man places work as the consequence of rebellion. In fact, work existed prior to sin (Genesis 1:28); it is toil that is a consequence (3:17-19).

Fly fishing should fuel your work and work should charge your fly fishing. Time on the water ought to clear your mind and refresh your soul. Days at the desk or on the jobsite  ought to leave you a bit spent from giving what you can to do well. A complete man – complete angler – gives to his vocation and receives from his leisure.

Happy Labor  Day from Casting Across