Lazy? Really? Well, Maybe…

A few weeks ago, I got one of those annoying memes* that spreads around Facebook like kudzu. In this one you were supposed to look at a word-cloud and pick out the first four words you saw. The first four words you saw are what describe you the best.

I picked out the words “compassionate”, “happy”, “patient”, and “lazy”.

Wait…what? Lazy? Me? Nah… No… Absolutely not… well…

Yes, yes. I know that you can’t necessarily find inner truth from something passed around on Facebook, but it started me thinking. Am I lazy?

On the surface, I’d say no. I have a demanding full-time job. I have a demanding elderly mother. I have other family responsibilities. I’ve managed to write a book and get it published. I keep up with social media responsibilities. Lazy? No way! I’m freaking superwoman!  I can bring home the bacon AND fry it up in the pan!

Except…well…I seem to find myself surfing the internet a lot…

And I have been known to spend a whole day playing SIMS…

And I have days that I take off to write and I don’t actually write anything…

If you have something you can do, and something you want to do, and you have a goal, and you don’t work towards your goal, then are you being lazy?

If you find your days spent in useless or mindless activity, then are you being lazy?

If you look back on your week and you haven’t done anything but spin your wheels, and you had the opportunity to move forward, then are you being lazy?

We think of lazy as lying about on the sofa eating bon-bons, but can you be lazy and still be really, really busy?

I think you can.  I think being “lazy” can be thought of as not living up to your potential. Some people avoid their potential by doing nothing. Some people avoid their potential by doing too much, or by doing things that are not productive (like, *cough* SIMS).

We can’t be completely focused all the time.  We’re not machines.  We need downtime and we need recreation and we need to just step back and take a breath every so often.  But if you know where you want to go and you avoid going there, then, yeah.  I think that might be lazy.

And by that definition, the meme is correct.  I have a tendency to be lazy.

(But I’m pleased to say that I took off a week to write and I actually spent the week (mostly) writing.  Win!  Take that!)

Here’s the meme.  What words do you see?  Of course, now everyone will see “lazy”, but you’ll be able to tell yourselves it’s because I mentioned it.  LOL

 

 

 

*meme – a cultural item that is transmitted by repetition in a manner analogous to the biological transmission of genes. (www.dictionary.com)

Comments

  1. I got Elegant, Reserved, Sentimental and … Naive. :-\

    I know lazy people, and I don’t think you fit the bill, Betsy. Lazy is the guy I know who leaves his truck to rot in the yard because it’s too much trouble to have someone tow it away (true story) or just pushes piles of rubbish around in his living room instead of cleaning up. I do think that our society has created a means by which we are easily distracted and it *feels* like we’re doing something, yet we know we aren’t and thus many of us feel *guilty*. I’d say a more appropriate descriptor might be “distracted” rather than “lazy”. Just my thoughts on that.

    • Betsy Horvath says

      @Luna: Ohhhh, distracted. I like that one. 😀 I don’t think I’m necessarily lazy in a letting the truck rot in the yard sense (although I have been known to push things around the house instead of cleaning up). But there are definitely days that go by and I have done nothing meaningful at all, let alone productive. I don’t think that every day needs to be productive as in “get it done, get it done”, but I also don’t think we should waste them. I guess that when I waste a day doing something stupid (like playing SIMS all day), I feel lazy. But I’m glad I’m hiding it. LOL Or else…could it be… is it possible that the meme is…wrong??? 😀

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