Of course we only went to dinner about a three minute walk from my house, but still, I left the house. Other than that, I have been generally zoning out and doing nothing in particular. Oh, okay, I changed my sheets and flipped my mattress and did some laundry and some knitting and some cooking (I now have lunch for both tomorrow and Tuesday, go me!) but really, is that much of anything at all? I think not, and therefor, I think I am very lazy.
On the other hand, there are limits to my laziness. I am lucky enough now to be at a time in my life when money is not generally an issue. I don't have loads of money, but I also don't buy loads of things. This means I generally live within my means and therefor, money is no big issue at the moment. I am concerned however that this will change shortly as the flatmates are moving out which will deprive me of a substantial contribution to my monthly living. Looking at my bank statements for the past few months, it is clear that I am only doing okay by way of money because of the rent I collect. No rent and I will find myself eating into my savings. So I am going to need to start cutting back on my already meager spending. Mostly this will mean curtailing my eating out. So we'll see how that goes.
There was a time in my life when money was not as easy a thing to try and get my mind around. Being a student, being young- the only jobs I could get barely paid my way. I have had credit card debt at various points which I have paid off. And I still have loads of student debt from my graduate degrees (but those don't really count in a way). And of course there's my mortgage. But generally I have paid off all my debt at this point and I even have savings which in a pinch could last me a few months of living and I feel okay with that.
It's struck me recently though, talking to a few people here and there, that maybe I'm not so lazy. I have a job, I work, I manage my life. I've been recently exposed to some folks who can't seem to support themselves. This is a thought that not only terrifies me, but is also one that I simply don't understand. I know people who have no jobs, or temporary or part time jobs and they struggle to make ends meet, run up debt, and generally complain about having no money.
The thing is, all of these people could have money if they would just take a job and stick with it. But for whatever reasons, they don't want the jobs that they can get. Like somehow it would be beneath them to do such menial work. And yet, what are their options? You don't get ahead in life without paying your dues. Everyone has done it. I don't know how these particular people got by in life thinking they were owed anything except the hand they were dealt. If I was not working in my professional field, I would probably be making loads more money just temping or doing secretarial work. Hell, I made more temping in college per hour than I made for years and years in my profession. I suppose what drove me then was not money, but satisfaction. Still, if I found that I couldn't pay my bills or support myself, damn sure I'd be going back to where I knew I could earn some money while I tried to figure out what to do next. What I would not do would be to go live with my parents or collect welfare (or live on the dole) or generally just sit around and boo hoo myself about how I can't earn enough money to support myself because that's just bullshit.
I don't know. I think I just got a bee in my bonnet about this recently. I just found I had no patience to listen to people complain about not having money when what they were really saying is that they didn't want to make choices that might otherwise be unpleasant. Most of the time I have come to find it's not about how one can't get a job, it's how one won't get a job. There's a huge difference. Lazy people.
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