The Chaos In Laziness

   About three months ago, my personal life hit a huge turn for the better. I woke up one morning determined to make a difference in my own life. The moment my feet hit the floor, I repeated the words to myself, “I am my own man, I am independent, and I am free.” with full intention to grasp control of my own life and live a more productive lifestyle. Over the course of about two months, my quality in life soared in more ways than one. With this new found self discipline, my mood was lifted, my anxiety almost completely diminished, and my goals to succeed in becoming a masculine man became fully visible at the end of the tunnel. I began attending meet-up groups to socialize with people to challenge my social skills in ways I haven’t in years. I was really getting somewhere, but then something happened.

Stagnation and Boredom Is A Killer

   Once the quarantine of 2020 began, my outlets for growth began to diminish. I no longer was able to attend groups for socialization, the possibility to begin online dating was crushed, and I allowed my meaning and reason to reach my goals to feel pointless. I felt stuck. Despite this, I did maintain self discipline for a time. I remained diligent in keeping my room spotless and folding my laundry, but as time dragged on, apathy slowly began to creep into my everyday morning routine until, before I knew it, I was back at stage 1 living without purpose.

   My depression and anxiety picked back up. Even after the quarantine finally lifted, I had no urge or drive to get back out in the world to socialize and improve on my social skills. I got stuck in this lazy way of living life again and playing video games for 5 hours a day became the norm. My clean laundry was left unfolded and dirty clothes remained sprawled out across the floor. What happened to my urge to become a masculine man? What happened to my drive to become a man who my future wife could depend and rely on? What happened???

Humans Need Goals

   Humans are inherently goal oriented individuals. While men tend to focus on single goals, women focus on many goals at once. In short, humans need goals in order to feel satisfied. Humans must have a sense of an ability to move forward and improve on their own lives. Without this, the drive to remain motivated becomes pointless and laziness becomes a much more attractive avocation. But the problem with laziness is it provides no resulting reward. Laziness is the instant reward itself, which is why it remains such an attractive pastime.

That Which We Pursue Will Flee and Its Opposite Will Follow

   The beautiful element within choosing to take part in productive activities (and often activities which are less enjoyable) is they produce a sense of accomplishment only upon completion. After doing the dishes or folding the laundry for example, while they are tedious and mundane in the moment, they produce a sense of accomplishment once completed. This is because it produces a sense bettering one’s self and moving forward. On the other hand, when choosing to take part in lazy or more enjoyable activities, such as playing video games or binging a Netflix series, they produce no sense of accomplishment upon completion.

   What is happening here is a simplistic code of engagement and result. If we engage in activities which produce friction and discomfort, the result will (for the most part) create an element of reward and accomplishment. On the flip side, if we engage in activities which produce instant reward and pleasure, the result will (for the most part) create an element of… well nothing, resulting in dissatisfaction with self and self-esteem. Humans are naturally programmed to develop self-esteem upon facing trials and conquering them, but it is up to us to choose between using our time to face our responsibilities or to be lazy. That which we pursue will flee and its opposite will follow. Will we choose discomfort to produce peace and satisfaction in our lives, or will we choose instant satisfaction and live in chaos? The external world is not to blame for the chaos in our lives, it is entirely up to the difficult choices we choose to make in bettering ourselves.