There’s a lot of anti-laziness propaganda out there.
Get The Latest News!
Don't miss our top stories and need-to-know news everyday in your inbox.
We’re supposed to get in 10,000 steps a day. There are near-constant plans and social obligations. It’s a constant barrage of things we’re doing or things we should be doing, all the time, 24/7. Even sleeping is just a waste of eight hours; do you know how much I could get done with that extra time?
So there I was, in that go-go-go mindset I am constantly in, when I suddenly found myself looking at a weekend with no plans.
Nothing to do on a Friday night? Nobody I needed to see, nothing I needed to do? All my chores and work and extra projects, caught up?
What was I supposed to do with myself?
Confusingly and wonderfully, my night was completely open. I jumped into pajamas and settled onto the couch with the remote control, a jar of Nutella, and a spoon. This was the ideal Friday night.
Let me clarify: I’m no stranger to weekends without plans. My social calendar is rarely bursting.
But this was the trifecta — no plans, no chores, nothing that needed to be done. This was a truly lazy Friday night.
I am in favor of lazy days. There, I said it. I highly recommend everyone takes a day every now and then to truly do nothing. Be unproductive! Sleep in late! Waste time!
Someone once said that time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time. Google isn’t sure who said it first, but I’ll repeat it again and again.
But even so, as I sat on the couch and watched a few episodes of mind-numbing reality television, the guilt began to creep in. Surely I should be doing something. Almost positively, I could find a chore or a task or a project that I had forgotten about, something I was putting off, something I needed to work on right now. Not only was I being lazy, but I was wasting the most precious resource we have: the hours in the day.
I considered this, and then I hit “next episode.”
There are moments in life when you have to have discipline. You have to push yourself to get up, to work harder, to be better.
There are also instances when you need to rest. After a long week, with nothing pressing on my plate, when else was I going to get an opportunity to recharge? Why not take advantage of a lazy Friday night and enjoy the languid hours of Netflix and Nutella? I admit I was pretty satisfied with my choices.
In our constantly-moving culture, it’s hard to take time for yourself to rest. It’s also necessary to do it every now and then before you burn out. I’m a fan of laziness, and I recommend a good dose of it, in moderation. There’s no problem with taking a break. In fact, I’d argue that laziness can sometimes be the healthiest choice.
The doctors may disagree — but hey, since when did anyone come to me for medical advice? All I can offer is anecdotal evidence. I’m hitting this week running, in large part thanks to the break I took the other night.
And if anyone has any Netflix recommendations, let me know. I’m prepping for my next lazy day, and I can’t wait.
More like this: