Why is it that we hate to do the simplest of things? We continually push them off until we can’t anymore, or until it’s too late.
My husband and I recently returned from a weekend trip to a campground for a wedding. When we returned home, my shoes were filthy. They were caked in mud, and they didn’t smell so great either. The wet grass at the campground had really done a number on them.
And of course, rather than clean them as soon as we got home from the trip, I waited weeks to do it. I cleaned them yesterday. The wedding was three weeks ago. I had set them out on our patio, and kept telling myself that I would get around to it, and always came up with excuses as to why I couldn’t at that moment.
The shoes that needed cleaning were my good pair of tennis shoes. The ones that we went to a local shoe store, called Fleet Feet, to buy. The store employee that helped us even had me do a full walk test and scanned my feet to configure a three-dimensional diagram to find the perfect pair of shoes for me. They weren’t cheap, and they provided the right amount of support for me while going through healing from my injury.
So why, after spending the time and money to find good shoes, did I throw them outside and refuse to do the simplest thing to take care of them? Why didn’t I clean my shoes when I should have? The answer: I was lazy and I fell into the trap of procrastination.
When I say procrastination, I do not mean restful inactivity. Rest is crucial to our wellbeing and the revitalization of our souls (read my post on the importance of rest here). When I say procrastination, I am talking about the intentional refusal to do the necessary tasks that provide quality of life. Procrastination is so hard to avoid. The tasks that we find to be unpleasant are often the ones that we push aside and try to forget. But every time we do that, it inadvertently makes the task harder.
Think about it; when you choose not to do the dishes immediately, food is then caked onto the dishes, making it harder to clean them. When you don’t wash your clothes for weeks, they pile up and then all of a sudden you have nothing to wear to work twenty minutes before you need to walk out the door. And yes, when I chose not to clean my shoes as soon as I got home from my trip, the mud hardened, the smell got worse, and I really had to put some elbow grease into it to clean them. Something that should have taken ten minute took almost forty-five.
And then there are the other side effects of procrastination and laziness. Because I chose not to clean my shoes, I then had to wear other shoes to work. Ones without the arch support that I needed. Everyday that I didn’t clean my good pair of shoes, I would come home from work with my feet throbbing and my back in pain.
Every decision you make has a counter-effect. Every time you say no to something, you are saying yes to something else. When you say no to doing something that you need to do, you are then inviting in more hardship and frustration.
Usually when we choose to procrastinate, worrying that it will take too long, we aren’t actually saving any time. If anything, we are making the process longer. Most of the time when we choose not to do something, we instead waste our time on things that do not benefit us, such as watching Netflix. I can’t help thinking about all of the homework that I pushed off in college just to rewatch Mean Girls for the tenth time in three months. We tend to place higher priority on mind-numbing and meaningless tasks than on those that would truly bring us life, joy, wisdom, and all around better circumstances.
In Ecclesiastes 10:18, it says “Through laziness the rafters sag; because of idle hands the house leaks.” Our indecision and lack of ability to take action when it is called for can cause destruction. Our complacency and laziness can erode the value of good things.
Laziness in relationships causes them to fall apart. If I were to stop putting in the hard work, day in and day out, to pursue my husband, complacency sets in and the marriage would surely and slowly die. Trust issues are developed, doubts and misinterpretation of intentions follow. Choosing not to act is an action in and of itself, and it still has consequences. Pretending an issue doesn’t exist will not make it go away. We cannot be naive about reality, because it will keep moving on without us.
What are you procrastinating today that you should have done yesterday? Is it the dishes, starting a workout regimen for better health, calling that relative or friend that you haven’t spoken to in months or even years? Saying ‘I love you’ to your spouse? Whatever it is, we all have something we are being lazy about.
The repercussions of laziness affect all things in life. Whether it be something as simple as cleaning your tennis shoes, or something as grand as keeping your marriage thriving. And while I don’t have a cure for this problem, being aware of it is a good place to start. I am working to be better about my intentionality in the tasks that I complete, and the people I am in relationship with, and I challenge you to do the same.
