Having been away from work for the best part of 6 weeks, I’ve had plenty of time to consider what it really means to be lazy. I did come up with a definition recently that tried to distinguish between this and idleness:
Laziness + motivation = efficiency
Laziness - motivation = idleness
However I found myself considering this question in a more personal way: perhaps idleness means not being able to do things even in one’s own best interest. So this type of laziness may be about giving up on our needs (for love, to grow, to be challenged, to belong) and instead ‘making do’ with whatever is at hand. It could be worse - making do with things that don’t benefit us that have been propping us up for years.
My holiday helped me consider my laziness. My willingness to stay within the constraints of my thinking. My desire to always be safe, to not take risks. It opened me up, helped me see that the risks I was prepared to take would enrich me greatly.
Laziness in this sense of the word is the unwillingness to grow, to participate, to be challenged, to have the courage to forge a new identity. It is scary. Timidity is much safer, but ultimately it dulls our wits, and depletes our energy.
