Do You Consider Yourself Lazy?

What do you do each day? Everyone works whether it is for money or to take care of their children. We spend more time working than we do relaxing or doing something for ourselves. This of course does not count the sleep time. Don't we deserve to relax in our free time? I think so.

In this article, I'm going to discuss what we call a couch potato. We all know this is not a potato on a couch. They use this term for those who sit on the couch or chair and watch television frequently. Relaxing while watching television can be considered lazy but if you're comfortable with it, this may not be a bad thing. Please keep in mind, if you disregard tasks that need to be completed in order to watch television, then this form of relaxing is taken to the extreme and not a good thing.

Although being a couch potato isn't detrimental, there are some things we should be considerate of. Let's look at each of them separately.

What about cooking? If dinner has to be made and you aren't the one who usually does it, be considerate and ask if they would like you to help them cook. Yes it takes time away from your television, but this makes that person happy that you asked and in the end, time will be saved for the person who is normally cooking to be able to spend more time with you or your children.

Do you have to pay bills? These should be done before you relax. If the bills don't get paid, you won't have the electricity you need to make the television operate! Be sure to make this activity a priority. If you don't normally pay, consider offering to help with this task.

Do your children have homework? This is a great opportunity for you to visit with your children to show them you care. Ask them if they have homework and offer to help them if you can. Depending on their age, they may decline or take you up on your offer. Regardless of their response, you have already made them happy that you offered to spend time with them and you will also benefit because it is very rewarding to be a part of your child's growth in education.

Then there's the notorious house work. If you don't normally do this, pickup after yourself or others before you sit down for the evening. Regardless of who does the house work, team effort is important. What I wrote in my article "Keep Your Home Clear of Clutter", spend a few minutes before watching television to walk through the house and pickup items that are out of place. Do a quick cleanup to avoid a cluttered mess that will only stress you out and cause your relationship to be distraught.

All of the above tasks won't take much time to do and these actions will have two-fold benefits. You will please the person that you are helping and you also benefit. When you get to relax, you will feel satisfied that you were able to contribute to the operation of the household. I'm sure you know of someone who would benefit from reading this article. Feel free to pass it along and hope that they take away something from this article.