Laziness

I was fortunate enough to make so much money from freelance writing in November that I was able to take off all of December. I decided to dedicate that time to visiting as many friends as possible and doing something nice and Christmassy with them. I visited one of my internet friends for the first time, I reunited with a favourite university professor of mine, watched Christmas light switch ons, went to Christmas markets and had innumerable dinners out with different friends. It was a wonderful m0nth and I am deeply privileged to know so many people who are happy to dedicate time to me and whose company I enjoy so much.

When people ask me what I’ve been doing lately, I say I’ve been lazy and gone through December without doing any work. But, thinking about it, that’s not a healthy attitude and I think it reflects an attitude which is quite common on our society. Why is it lazy to dedicate time to you friends rather than towards making money? Laziness connotes wasting time and not doing anything worthwhile, but spending time with people is infinitely more important than working a job. Nobody has suffered any negative consequence from my lack of work, yet I still feel the need to apologetically call it lazy. I am sure many others in my position would too.

As a whole, I feel like our society has an unhealthy relationship with work. Having a job and being very busy with work related tasks is seen as a positive, to the extent that it is often even equated with moral goodness. Yet spending time with those you love is not regarded in this same light. Why? Why is working to make money the way you ‘should’ spend your time? This lifestyle is only going to cause you to feel very stressed at the end of the day. Most likely it ultimately stems from materialism. I’ll have to stop myself before I call my extended Christmas break “lazy” again.

(Don’t miss today’s Finger Puppet Show!)

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