The amount of apologetic texts I have gotten or breath-y, soft “I’m sorrys” spoken when a friend shows up six minutes late to a meeting speaks to how spent everyone is.
Adding onto that, the immense pressure to go back to life the way it was pre-pandemic and:
1. Not being able to and,
2. Willfully refusing to do so lends to the idea that things are different, and we refuse to pretend we can go back to full capacity and be happy doing so.
“We” being my generation—specifically those of us currently in college. We have been getting constantly ragged on for being lazy and disorganized, and uncaring. I hear it in meetings with ‘adults’ every week. We are painted in mainstream media as if we just don’t want obligations, and we refuse to work or to take responsibility for no reason but selfishness. But it’s none of those things.
We have been getting constantly ragged on for being lazy and disorganized, and uncaring. I hear it in meetings with ‘adults’ every week.
We did school online for a year and a half. We were able to take a 5 minute break, heat up some soup, and jump into our next meeting. I stacked my days where I would have three classes in a row, then a meeting, and then go to a talk. And I could do that because I sat in my reading chair with a blanket, could grab a snack and refill my water, and simply click a link to hop to my next obligation.
But, more than that, I was able to spend more time with my family. With my recently passed sweet kitty cat, Oyu. I could run downstairs after class, give her a treat and chin scratch, and then hop back upstairs—with extra joy. I can’t do that with classes being back in person. I don’t have my mom here to quell my worries after a rough day of classes, or my dad to excitedly whip up dinner. I’m alone in my ventures, and that makes things different and harder.
And, more than THAT, speaking for all of “us,” we don’t have the freedom of mobility that we used to have. During “at-home college,” I would meet with friends who went to different colleges, people I rarely got to see my first or second year, to go hiking right after I ended a Zoom call. I could pop outside and walk a lap around my neighborhood, while still being ‘in’ class and participating. Can’t do that anymore either.
So this ‘lazy’ narrative that is being thrown at us is simply unfair. We aren’t showing up for what we used to because we know that there is better out there. We know that we don’t have to run from class to class with no time for leisure or hiking or giving cats chin scratches.
The best part of my day now is when I get to Facetime my parents after class or when I see a dog on the Lawn and I get to pet them. Better yet, my favorite days are Fridays because I managed to not have any classes that day, and I can go pick apples with Kira or get breakfast with Emma or go pumpkin pick with Carolyn. I got to go kayaking for the first time ever last month with an hour's notice, and even though I had a paper to write, I brushed it off. Because why would I miss kayaking with my friends Lexi and Pasha just so I could write a paper indoors, when half of what I do is sit at my desk, hunched over like some sort of gremlin?
The pandemic changed everything. It changed how we divvy up our time for things that bring us joy, for things that nurture our soul and bring us warmth.
The pandemic changed everything. It changed how we divvy up our time for things that bring us joy, for things that nurture our soul and bring us warmth. I no longer choose meetings over time with friends—and I don’t care if I’ve spent more time with my friends in a single week than I have scheduling meetings. When will I ever be in the position again where I have so many kind, creative, and loving people all within walking distance of me? Slim chance, right? Why sit in on a meeting where I know they’re going to spew the same things I’ve heard a gillion times before?
Let me tell you, we aren’t showing up for things that encourage unhealthy behavior. We don’t want the 10-hours-a-day-unpaid-internship. Why would we? We also don’t care that you’re putting on the same diversity workshop for the 90th time with no changes to the school hiring practices or pay. We can put on our own events, bring in our own speakers, and we’ll gain way more knowledge, experience, and empathy doing that ourselves than by sticking to what has always been shoved down our throats with no sugar to follow.
We simply have imagined a better space and place for ourselves, and we are going after it. Call me lazy, call me unfindable—but I want to be happy, healthy, and chasing after the change I want to see with my generation—and we aren’t doing that by anyone else’s rules. We simply want joy, and maybe that requires being a little ‘lazy.’
