Do lazy days make you feel rested or unproductive?
In the whirlwind of life, where productivity is often hailed as the ultimate achievement, I find myself at odds with the concept of laziness. To be unproductive feels like a betrayal of my very essence, a defiance of my DNA, which insists on ceaseless motion and endless to-do lists. I truly am about motion as my legs are always twitching, I bite my nails constantly, and I try to do three minutes of movement each hour. The idea of simply resting, without a plethora of tasks, seems alien to me. But as I reflect on the perpetual rush of life, I’ve come to realize the importance of embracing the art of laziness, at least for a day.
Just yesterday, I found myself in a conversation about taking a well-deserved break. I have a bunch of vacation days waiting to be used, and I thought it was high time to indulge in some rest and rejuvenation. However, in the course of discussing these upcoming days off, something peculiar happened. I started listing all the things I planned to do during this downtime. It started as a mental checklist, but it quickly evolved into a long and ambitious catalog of tasks.
Intriguingly, I noticed that my quest for relaxation had somehow transformed into a mission for productivity. It’s as if my brain couldn’t fathom the idea of doing nothing. The idea of laziness felt like a foreign concept, a notion that didn’t quite compute. I was determined to make the most of my days off, and I was inadvertently planning to pack them with activities, as if the mere thought of rest was anathema.
But, let’s be honest, we’ve all been there. The modern world constantly demands our energy and attention. There are inboxes to be emptied, chores to be done, deadlines to be met, and a thousand and one other tasks that keep us running in the endless hamster wheel of life. The relentless pursuit of productivity often leaves us drained, our minds overwhelmed, and our bodies aching for respite.
In this ceaseless race, we often overlook the importance of embracing the art of laziness. It’s not about being truly lazy in the sense of accomplishing nothing, but rather about granting ourselves the freedom to do nothing of consequence. It’s the chance to be unproductive, to take a step back from the daily grind, and to recharge our souls. Laziness, in this context, is an act of self-kindness, a gesture of self-care that acknowledges the relentless pace of modern life.
The challenge I pose to myself is to see I can be lazy for a day. Can I, for just a brief moment, relinquish the guilt that often accompanies unproductivity and allow myself to bask in the art of doing nothing? It’s not an invitation to shirk responsibilities or to procrastinate indefinitely. Instead, it’s an opportunity to balance the scales of life by injecting a day of rest into the relentless schedule of productivity.
In this pursuit, I’m reminded of the words of John Lubbock: “Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer’s day, listening to the murmur of the water or watching the clouds float across the sky is by no means a waste of time.” Laziness, in its purest form, is the chance to find respite in the simple pleasures – to lie on the grass, listen to the world’s rhythms, or watch the clouds dance in the sky.
In a world that thrives on perpetual motion, a day of rest is not laziness; it’s a beautiful act of rebellion against the relentless cacophony of life.
Categories: Culture, identity, mental health, Psychology, society, work
psychologistmimi 
SMiLes Dear Miriam ‘The River Must Flow’
Yet Not Really It’s Always FRiEnDS With
Gravity Yes The River is Flow As Tides
Come in And Go Out Reminding me
of the “Big Lebowski Movie”
Someone Confused Jeff
Lebowski ‘The Dude’
As A Rich Millionaire
Big Lebowski Interrupting
The Dude’s Flow Just A Stroll
Down in His Boxer Shorts and
Sweater to the Local Grocery Store For
What it Takes to Make a ‘White Russian’
Beverage Ah Yes Half and Half Will Do;
Then a China Man Out For Retribution
Pees On His Rug After Finding Out
He wasn’t really
the Big Lebowski
A Small Skirmish A Territorial
Dispute Removing the River From
‘The Dude’s Life Ain’t That How it
Goes When the Flow of Reality
Becomes Disjointed and
No Longer FRiEnDS
With Gravity
in a Balancing Way of Flow
Wu Wei As ‘They’ Say Ironically
The China Man’s Name Was Wu too
Yes Effortless in Ease of Non-Knowing
The River Flows And So Can We Just in the
Sweet Spot Tween Anxiety and Apathy Always
A Tight Rope to Even Flow With Higher and Higher
Dancing Our Way Up A Mountain With No Top or Bottom
Always Arriving Now Anyway the Ripples From the Dude’s
Pond Eventually
Disappeared
Back into Pleasant
And Calm Flow
Bowling
Was His Gig
Ten Pin God’s
Never Really Scary
They Just Fall Down And Get Back Up Again Free
That’s Life Strikes and Gutter Balls Ups And Downs
Yet It’s Like my Old Neighbor 94 Years-Old Still Living
on my Childhood Raised DownTown Blackwater River
Retired From the Railroad When i was Only 15 Still
Just Fishing off the Bank of All the Lush Flowers
He and His Deceased Wife Grew For So
Many More Decades of Life too
His Best Friend Still Lived
Next Door They
Just Fished
Everyday for the
Joy of Life Likely Just
Taking the Fish off the
Hook Giving them another Chance at Life too
His Whole Aura Was Peace My Whole World Was
Deadlines And Just Surviving Grinding As A Cog
in the Work A Day World Machine at 47 Just Working
Working
And He Just
Fishing Fishing
Yet He Had All the
Peace An activity in Flow Brings
i Had All the Hell of ‘Pieces of Eight’
Sadly What has Become ‘The American God’
Life Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness Give me Flow
It’s Enough
in Whatever i Do
As Long as i am
Naked Enough Whole Complete
ThiS Way A Fisher Man’s Dream indeed
Mr. Jones Was Also an Excellent Carpenter
Spending Decades Just Opening up the Railroad
Trestle For Boats To Cross and Closing it For Trains…
It’s True Ya
Can Hear Forever
Now in the Echo
of a Train Whistle
As it Comes and Goes
Shaking the Foundation
of Our Shot Gun Concrete
Block Raised Wood Home
Stone’s Throw From the
Railroad Tracks Home Indeed
No Different Than the Tides
of the Flow the River Makes True
Looking Across the River to the Forest Once Again
at 3 Before i Could Speak at 4 Just
A Leaf of A Tree Greening the
Forest Falling to Winter
Frozen Soils
Greening
Spring Again
Making Room for
New Summer Flowers to Fall…
Strikes And Gutter Balls Ups and Downs The River Still Flows…
Falling Asleep on Our Patio in Our Garden of Eden Before i Wrote
This Such A Lovely Day of Fall Life It is To Be Alive True Though
Still Dancing my Way
Through Life Singing
Free Yet i am Only
Human A Bit
Harder
to Get
up After
A Nap Hehe…
We Are Born We
Die At Best We Truly Live…
Thank You FRiEnD For Helping to
Describe
Heaven
in my
Words
at
Least
The
River Flows…
It’s Like my Mother’s Favorite
Song Alan Parson’s “Time”
Forever A FRiEnD Now
This River is
Forevernew
This Gift of Life…
My Sister Played it For Her
in Her Eight Day Stay With No Food
or Drink in Hospice Care Letting Go Letting Go
And God
Yes Living Now…
With SMiLes..:)
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Your post beautifully captures the struggle many of us face in a fast-paced world that glorifies productivity.
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I’m lazy – but not by choice – on days where nothing I do seems to kick the brain into gear. I simply can’t write real fiction without a brain.
Days like today, when I couldn’t figure out how to wake up, nor get myself back to bed for enough naps.
Like everyone, I do the best I can with what I have – but I don’t call it lazy often.
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Charlee: “Laziness is our specialty!”
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