LAZY – AND LOVING IT!

I finally have an excuse, backed up by hard, scientific study (click for link).

I’m lazy – and it’s OK.

For decades, I was a hard-core workaholic. Before I was forced into retirement, due to illness, every waking minute of my life was regimented and pre-planned in 15-minute increments, on my To-Do list. The massive responsibilities I placed on myself led to a very successful career in the entertainment industry, however, my determination to push through the fatigue until after every last thing was checked off my To-Do list led to 30-hour work days – yes, DAYS – with nothing more than a bag of chips in my stomach. Twenty years of that resulted in a devastating health diagnosis (Type 2 diabetes) and my doctor told me, if I didn't slow down and take better care of myself, I would be dead in six months.

After I got sick and was forced to slow down, it was very hard, at first, trying to live a more relaxed and laid back lifestyle. But, after years of struggle, self-analysis and brain reprogramming, I have come out the other side with a new perspective: I just don’t feel like doing much of anything, anymore...and I’m totally OK with that. Where once I used to get very angry and disgusted with myself for letting three hours go by without working for a client or doing something that helped me achieve professional targets, today, my most important goal is to do as little as possible.

With the job that I have right now, I’m up around 7 a.m. and done by noon, five days a week. After that, I’m free to do whatever I want. I could go browsing at the mall, go grocery shopping, tour an art gallery or museum, check out a new movie playing at the theatre. I could go for a walk along the beach, a nature hike in the hills, or take a day-trip to another town and explore the sights.

Or, I could just slip into my PJs, get into bed – yes, at noon – and watch a Star Wars movie marathon on TV, with a bowl of hot buttered popcorn in my lap. Just the thought of that makes me so very happy! My soul-crushing guilt and self-admonishment have been replaced by unfathomable glee that I can just hang out, at home, and do whatever the fuck I want...even if it’s absolutely nothing.

The drawback, of course, is that I’m no longer raking in $200k per year, anymore. But, remembering how quickly that all disappeared after the crash of ’08, I don’t think I ever want to work that hard, again, for money in the bank or the acquisition of “stuff” that only piled up on shelves and in cupboards, unused, because I was too fucking busy working!





I still have daily To-Do lists (I can't quit cold turkey) but, while it was once 30 entries long and required travel to cities all over the world to complete, it's now 5 or 6 entries long and includes yoga, making a work of art (I sculpt & paint) and playing with my cats on the patio, while sipping a cup of matcha tea.

KJC


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