With the welding hood down…

Never give up on your dream of welding if you have one. It may be just the thing you need. I’ve talked to so many people who use it as a therapy for their high stress jobs. Once the hood comes down, they describe this feeling of complete concentration and at the same time a feeling of utter relaxation. Speaking from personal experience, as a person who welds regularly, welding is something that can be hot, dangerous, frustrating, and even bankrupting. But they’re right. When that hood is down, you are in another world. There’s something relaxing about having an electric arc jumping from your hand and melting metal at several thousand degrees just a few inches from your face. While I am no licensed therapist, I have known too many people that have benefited from having a welding hobby on the side, to try to deny the psychological benefits of welding. It should be practiced if nothing else for stress relief itself. Sure you’ll get burned and your eyes will get flashed every once in a while, but the arc does more than melt metal. The anxiety just passes away and your thoughts become clear. It may seem sort of mystical the way I describe it. But even on the welding job, as stressful as it can be, when the hood is down, I am boss. I make the decisions, and I call the shots. I tell my body what it must do next. No one is going to dare micromanage my weld. No, they wouldn’t dare. You’ll find welders an independent lot. They are free thinkers on about every subject, and they will live and die by their opinion, right or wrong. I think it all gets started when the hood is down.