Laziness that protects us

Behind what we call laziness, in fact, lies our own denial of stereotypes, rules of conduct, values, goals and objectives imposed on us. In its purest form, laziness does not exist!

We are always busy with something – relationships with the world, with ourselves or with the future. For the natural living of life, it is very important that everyone follows his own path, and not according to what we are supposedly given or prescribed.

So, the Chinese have the concept of “wei wo” – existence “for oneself” or “for the sake of one’s “I”. Therefore, to be lazy to do something, to put it off until later, to skip school means to defend yourself from prescriptions that prevent you from being yourself, from protecting your life.

Even if this is just a reaction to the intuitive feeling of “like it or not,” we support our creativity in one way or another: by being lazy to do what we don’t like, we leave time and energy for things that we have a penchant for.

And it’s a great way to get through bad times. I remember a student who turned to me for help because she considered herself very lazy and was weary of it. She was most lazy when she needed to start doing something new.

It turned out that under pressure from her parents, the girl studied for many years what she was not interested in. And when she began to work in her specialty, she completely had a nervous breakdown. It was during the years of study that this laziness developed. Behind her, like behind a screen, her Person (the spiritual component of the personality) and her life moved. So she, without realizing it, answered the two most important questions for a person.

• First, is there anything of value to me in what I do, does life give me what I feel is good?
• Second: does what I have to do correspond to my essence? This helped her to save herself, to wait out the “winter” of her existence and live up to the “thaw”.

Laziness gives us temporary space for ourselves. It is impossible not to remember such a form of it as procrastination – postponing for later. We are uncomfortable in this state, because the psychological pressure is constantly increasing. After all, we understand that the task must be completed sooner or later.

Pressure breeds the remorse that always comes when we don’t do what we should. But procrastination also has a positive function – creating space for yourself. It is necessary until we have matured one or another decision, the meaning of the project has not become clear.

The closer the deadline, the more obvious the damage that can be done by not doing the work, and the more tangible its value. It is this awareness that gives us the motivation we need to carry out our plans.

“Do I really need it? Do I feel the need for it in my only life?” Behind every instance of laziness comes this unconscious but perfectly distinct question. The answer is negative. What it really means is, “I’m more interested in something else right now.”