Presumably, in days before writing, sitting next to a tree all day, doing nothing, would get you called lazy.



And then, after mass distribution of books, reading all day would get you called lazy.

And then, watching TV all day would get you called lazy.

And then music. And then video games, and then...

After all, the modern caricature of a lazy couch potato that isn’t achieving their potential isn’t doing nothing - they’re simply in a state of prolonged procrastinating by means of distraction.

Of course, now, the stillness that comes with sitting next to the tree all day is revered, not as lazy, but as work that seems impossibly hard when you have a sea of screens and feeds to choose from.



Maybe the permission to be lazy - from society and from ourselves has diminished. Maybe lazy is giving yourself the permission to do something unproductive, or nothing at all.

Maybe lazy is ok.