The Battle Between Relaxation And Laziness

Laziness can be a virtue on the path to success. In Christopher Morley’s piece, titled “On Laziness”, he shows that being lazy can actually be very beneficial when used it small amounts. The reader must analyze the diction, syntax and figurative language to help grasp a better understanding of the text.

The Shortland Wetlands have became one of the most popular and well-known attractions in Newcastle for its extensive wildlife, many activities and intensive research on conservation of many topics. (Wetlands.org.au)

Society today looks down on laziness and criticizes those who choose to stay home and do nothing rather than go out and be productive. Christopher Morley, writer of the essay “On Laziness” (1920), makes points about how living the lazy life can lead to a happy human soul. You might question, is he being true to his words or is it simply just satire? With the use of irony, humor, and sarcasm, Morley gently criticizes the lives of indolent people to persuade his audience towards the opposite path in life.

Christopher Morley presents the topic of laziness as fascinating and rewarding through the use of rhetorical effect and appeal to human nature. Laziness, which is typically portrayed in a negative light, is introduced as something that could help “enlighten” living. He advertises the attractiveness of laziness by appealing to human desire, ethos, and pathos while using a sophisticated diction and amicable tone.

“On Laziness” by Christopher Morely is an essay on laziness. He claims there are benefits to laziness and that most wise, experienced people are, in fact, lazy. Morley’s purpose is to glorify lazy people and persuade people to believe that they can be successful because he lists examples of smart lazy people and he uses many examples in which laziness is helpful and the opposite is destructive to support his cause. Christopher Morely used examples of lazy successful people to make his point. “Doctor Johnson, who was one of the world’s great philosophers, was lazy.”

It is something that we witness day to day. Whether it's a kid who sits on the couch watching cartoons and eating chocolate or a someone who turns work in half completed, laziness is laziness. But illness is not laziness. There comes a point when your body is fatigued, where your muscle becomes weak and your stamina runs out. For most people, this happens during a work out. For chronically ill (My example in the link is someone with chronic fatigue syndrome, but a variety of chronic conditions or illnesses can cause major fatigue and cause your life to seemingly fall apart.) people, this can happen by doing one or two simple tasks. (Link 9) For example, I can get up out of bed, do my basic morning routine; Use the restroom, wash my hands, brush my teeth, maybe wash my face (if it's a good day.). This takes about 20-30% of my energy reserves for the day. Most people would see this as laziness, but it isn't. Extreme fatigue, especially from a mystery or chronic illness, can cause stress, which causes more fatigue, it's a deadly

Finding a way to relax is difficult within this stress induced world. Life gets in the way and then suddenly, it’s like you’re suffocating with the struggle of everyday life and the responsibilities you’re expected to fill. What I have found works best to relieve the pressure, is to take a break and let a peaceful moment like breathing in the subtle waves at Jordan Lake, wash your mind into a blank slate. The lake is one of the best places for an overwhelmed mind and a heavy heart. It’s as if the wind caressing your face brushes away the worry and the heartache. The warm sand engulfs your feet like comforting hug. The sun is always smiling down at you and the world just slowly starts to melt away one peaceful wave at a time.

Novelist, Christopher Morley, in his essay, On Laziness,” argues that laziness is not always negative. Morley’s purpose is to argue that people who are lazy are becoming very successful in life in order to help people understand that laziness can be positive. He adopts a satirical tone in orders to send strong messages to the readers in a humorous way. Morley supports his implication by first mocking lazy people then he describes attractiveness of lazy people, finally he uses ethos in his essay to present his argument in a more authentic way.

There is a certain irony with procrastination, things we put off doing accumulate to the point of in manageability and feelings of anxiety increase which, is why we procrastinate anyway.

If we look back to the origins of social psychology and evolutionary psychology we quickly learn that never were our ancestors in a so-called comfort zone. Life was tough and a daily struggle for survival. That doesn 't mean there was never time to relax and enjoy...just not much time.

Upon reading the article on Stress Management, I realized that procrastination can definitely cause stress in my life, unwanted and unnecessary stress.For years I have been in a fight with procrastination. I am ashamed to say that I have identified this issue a long time ago and have done nothing to get rid of it. I am even more ashamed to say that about 90% of time procrastination wins. Whether it be a simple wash the bathroom now or no more movies, not to mention take out the garbage now, I allow procrastination to win. I will always say, I can do it later or I have time. This is a negative factor that affects Time and Stress Management.

In Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” Hemingway sets the scene with an ordinary couple drinking alcohol waiting on the train to arrive, as we can assume the story undergoes a major decision needing to be made by the characters. We read about a distressed couple contemplating what to do on the issue of what seems to be an abortion, “an awful simple operation.” More seems to be going on during the story than what initially meets the readers eye, and the author leaves a lot of room for interpretation of his short story. Ernest Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” incorporates symbolism of the title throughout the story to deliver a powerful message about choice.

It’s important to relax because you could get stressed you could get a rest after hard working. People relax, so they won’t be sted or get sick. When you don’t relax it feels bad because you’re stressed or get sick.

Relaxation is necessary in one’s day to day active life. A person must work hard but his energy is limited, and if he spends too much of it he will soon feel tired. Even a machine cannot work for a long time at a stretch and it is given rest at regular intervals, otherwise it gets out of order. To move out of our daily hectic schedule life or more specific to relax, we need to perform several activities of our choice to get relax, which also provide amusement, benefit to us. Some of them that I follow are dancing, swimming and watching movies or watching Television.

Without having or developing good time management skills, one may find it easier to stress out or find it easy to not make time for leisure. The results for a study conducted on 249 college students showed that the combination of anxiety reduction and effective time management affiliated with participating in leisure activities can be an effective technique for reducing academic stress (Misra & McKean, 2000, 41). The same study also states that, “campus recreation practitioners may plan leisure activities and social recreational pursuits that increase the educational benefit from leisure pursuits to help students handle their academic stress,” (Misra & McKean, 2000, 49). So therefore, there is time for leisure as long as we learn how to manage our time. Once we find time to participate in those activities we desired for so long, it will help cope with nerve-racking situations that surround our lives. Besides keeping us from stressing, leisure also keeps us entertained and it helps stirs us away from being bored.