kestrel

Prompt 055: Spare Sunday Afternoon

55. Would you rather spend a Sunday afternoon being lazy, partying, or getting work done and why? How would your life change if you spent every afternoon that way and why?
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I suppose laziness is in the eye of the beholder. For example, I'm a single person with no kids, no debts, who lives on his own in a rented dwelling. I have a stable, well-paying job within which I achieve a comfortable lifestyle. I have a considerable amount of cash in my savings (at this point, it's the most I've ever had in my life). I do not live an extravagant lifestyle, and I do not travel frequently. If I could, I'd likely take in a pet from a rescue, but it's not possible where I live at the moment.

I consider a lot of my schedule to be My Own Time, and I guard it jealously. Without going into details, I think it's fair to say my life is full of curiosities, but is not beat-to-beat excitement and drama. I say "no" almost whenever I want, so I can say yes to things that are important to me. When I do say "yes," I give it everything I have to give.

People could look at my childfree life, my lack of real estate, my lack of a spouse or family or whatever, and suppose I am a lazy individual. I don't want and don't intend to follow the "typical" lifestyle of America's Whites: get married, settle down, buy a house and make a bunch of kids. Nothing about that has any attraction to me anymore (with a quick caveat regarding marriage: I'd do it again if there was a -damn good reason- for doing so... I suppose I could mention more about this specific topic another day).

I suppose I'm rambling on about this in such a way because when I look at "getting work done," the things I want to be doing (craft projects, tabletop game design, video game design, bicycling and exercise, reading, extra sleep, being outdoors) could easily be interpreted as mere leisure by those with a different paradigm. I'm almost certain that more than one of my close relatives considers me a lazy, irresponsible, manbaby. Meanwhile, I look at them, and I see a stressed-out, frazzled weekend warrior/ess up to their ears in debt and dirty laundry.

Am I lonely? At times, yes I feel quite lonely. But what I find much more reassuring is that I do not feel guilty for living beyond my means, for consuming excessively, for bringing defenseless children into a wrecked and dying world full of corruption and violence, etc. etc. I assume you either understand where I'm coming from, or you can easily find a way to dismiss me as "overdramatic" or "paranoid" or "selfish," or definitely "lazy." This is what I mean by laziness being in the eye of the beholder.

I'm fortunate enough to have lived a life that - so far - allows me to choose the way I may live. And if that looks like "getting work done" by me, or "being lazy" by others, well... So it goes. It'll take a lot for me to change, and it won't be easy for someone else to force it upon me.