Laziness and Rest: Does it differ?

"I am not being lazy, I am just giving myself the break that it deserves."

"Hey, not being a lazy bum, just that, I needed a whole week or month of rest."

"Ain't lazy, just not in the mood to be productive."

Familiar? Have you heard these words from someone else? Or, you have heard it coming from your own mouth? I got you there, right? Well, there's no need to fret, I totally understand and can relate with you.

In fact, those phrases above were my exact words every time I stop doing my responsibilities and obligations.
I always have these lame excuses and a justification for my actions.

Maybe because, by saying these things, I could somehow remove the guilt slowly rising within me every time I choose to slack around instead of grinding and hustling for my dreams and visions.

Please don't get me wrong, I am not saying that it's wrong to give yourself a break after a very long tiring, and stressful day at work. It's just that, I want you to understand that there's a vast difference between resting and being lazy.

Confused? Well, worry no more, cause I got your back. In this article, I'll be tackling the difference between the two most used words every time a person gets burnout or just wants to escape from the responsibilities that she/he has.

But first, let us define each word. According to Oxford dictionary,

• Laziness is ​the fact of being unwilling to work or be active.
• Rest is a period of relaxing, sleeping, or doing nothing after a period of activity

If we are going to chop those definitions word by word, it clearly shows that aside from their spellings, those two words distinctly have a massive difference when it comes to their meanings and uses.

Unfortunately, it is constantly and intentionally being used interchangeably.

Here are some of the major reasons why people tend to interchange these two words.

1. Justify our actions.
2. Comfort ourselves from the guilt that is hunting us.

Resting gives us peace of heart. It allows us to recharge and even developed new ideas. Resting will make us see things clearer. And most of all, we rest because we are tired of doing productive things all day long where we dedicated our time and effort to specific tasks we are assigned to do.

On the other hand, laziness makes everything around us so exhausting. Even just accomplishing small tasks, we already feel drained and exhausted. Being lazy makes us feel that time is too short and there is always regret. We feel lazy even if aren't doing anything productive.

Most of the time, we claimed to be tired when we are just being lazy. We often mask our laziness with rest, but only the real hard-working person could see the difference.

Now, are you the lazy one or the one that needs rest? Let me know your thoughts.