When Work = Laziness

My office cubicle, where I sometimes avoid life

It’s easy to become complacent. You come home and sit in front of the TV, listen to music, or do some other passive activity. There’s always tomorrow, right?

At this point in my life — halfway through by my estimation — I seem increasingly anxious about developing skills and pursuing interests. When I don’t feed these interests of mine, I become disappointed with myself.

Another type of avoidance exists that we don’t typically associate with laziness: work. Pamela Skillings talks about it in her book, “Escape from Corporate America: A Practical Guide to Creating the Career of Your Dreams.”

Sadly, we often choose our jobs over other things in life that need our attention. I volunteered recently to work extra hours over the weekend when I could have easily passed. I didn’t earn extra money for it because I’m salaried. I guess I wanted to help the team.

But maybe I also chose to avoid the challenges of writing, blogging, learning photography, creating PHP functions, being a father and husband, and the many other things I should be doing on the weekend. The list seems daunting when I look at it in writing.

Yes, throwing oneself into work can be a form of laziness, and I’m guilty. I’ll probably do it again, too.