Taking it easy as over-riding life principal: c or d?

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Always making the easy decision, and not doing that much. Classic or dud?

― jel -- (jel), Monday, 23 June 2003 17:07 (twenty-two years ago)

Well surely eventually that line of thinking will run you into a dead end?

― Ally (mlescaut), Monday, 23 June 2003 17:10 (twenty-two years ago)

classic, well its my life anyway

― Bob Shaw (Bob Shaw), Monday, 23 June 2003 17:10 (twenty-two years ago)

What is a dead end, Ally?

― N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 23 June 2003 17:26 (twenty-two years ago)

What life doesn't lead to a dead end?

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Monday, 23 June 2003 17:35 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah if you like, whatever

― Andrew L (Andrew L), Monday, 23 June 2003 17:40 (twenty-two years ago)

good for the skin and heart!

― Aaron A., Monday, 23 June 2003 18:04 (twenty-two years ago)

Dud cause people who get away with it make me jealous. Or at least angry because they're mooching off of me...

― Sarah McLUsky (coco), Monday, 23 June 2003 18:37 (twenty-two years ago)

i sat home and ate spagetti o's today. and i watched some videos. that was about all.

― Bob Shaw (Bob Shaw), Monday, 23 June 2003 18:41 (twenty-two years ago)

You know, this is the kind of attitude that killed Glenn Frey

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Monday, 23 June 2003 18:45 (twenty-two years ago)

Someone start a "meaning of life: c or d" thread. I can't see any point in doing so.

― mouse, Monday, 23 June 2003 18:50 (twenty-two years ago)

But Sarah this is basically me!

― NA. (Nick A.), Monday, 23 June 2003 18:52 (twenty-two years ago)

You know, this is the kind of attitude that killed Glenn Frey

-- Curtis Stephens (sevenxvii...), June 23rd, 2003.

I was just going to say, basing your entire worldview on an Eagles song, C/D?

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Monday, 23 June 2003 18:53 (twenty-two years ago)

Dead end=missing opportunities that require difficult decisions or what have you. I'm really not sure what qualifies as the "easy" vs. "difficult" decisions so maybe if we define that first, we can discuss it.

― Ally (mlescaut), Monday, 23 June 2003 19:09 (twenty-two years ago)

Perhaps, what I mean by easy is making no decisions at all/ avoiding challenges. Not looking for a better paid job, not pursuing new opportunities in life. Letting things ride, and letting minor setbacks stop you from carrying on with whatever creative impulse you have. To me it's a mixture of making do, fear of failure, being too comfortable, apathy and sheer laziness. I wouldn't want to lose the good bits of taking it easy (rest, reflection etc), I just sometimes wish I could balance it by having a bit more ambition.

― jel -- (jel), Monday, 23 June 2003 19:22 (twenty-two years ago)

jel, you're forgetting ADD. *runs far, far away*

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Monday, 23 June 2003 19:25 (twenty-two years ago)

i haven't capsized yet

― jess (dubplatestyle), Monday, 23 June 2003 19:25 (twenty-two years ago)

ADD = analog ? ?

― jel -- (jel), Monday, 23 June 2003 19:28 (twenty-two years ago)

jel--that is I suppose what I mean then. It's not necessarily a bad thing but if you feel you'd like something and then don't go for it much because it's too much effort, that's what I mean by it'd lead to a dead end. Like what you said: if you feel like you wish it was more balanced then it is bad, if you are happy then what's the problem.

On the other hand, choosing the "easy option" of a "difficult decision" is still making a difficult decision if you think about.

Jody, please run further, ok? XOXO.

― Ally (mlescaut), Monday, 23 June 2003 19:30 (twenty-two years ago)

Why do people like you again?

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Monday, 23 June 2003 19:33 (twenty-two years ago)

they think if they humor her she'll eventually sleep with them

ATTN. MEN OF ILX: she is laughing at, not with, you. thanx, the mgmt.

― jess (dubplatestyle), Monday, 23 June 2003 19:33 (twenty-two years ago)

women are hurtful creatures

― Bob Shaw (Bob Shaw), Monday, 23 June 2003 19:42 (twenty-two years ago)

Especially those pointy parts in the front.

― NA. (Nick A.), Monday, 23 June 2003 19:50 (twenty-two years ago)

http://www.thedudeshouse.com/images/big/01_intro_dude/intro_dude_02.jpg

― Josh (Josh), Monday, 23 June 2003 19:56 (twenty-two years ago)

I am going to cry.

― Josh (Josh), Monday, 23 June 2003 19:58 (twenty-two years ago)

though I suppose I deserve that for freeloading. how appropriate.

― Josh (Josh), Monday, 23 June 2003 19:59 (twenty-two years ago)

hey, it comes and goes. ain't that the way.

― Josh (Josh), Monday, 23 June 2003 20:10 (twenty-two years ago)

the Dude abides man

― Bob Shaw (Bob Shaw), Monday, 23 June 2003 20:23 (twenty-two years ago)

I think you miss out on a lot by taking things to easy, by making immediate comfort overarchingly important. I know this first-hand. I've been thinking about this a lot recently, actually. I've been trying to prod myself to accept more discomfort, of various sorts, for the sake of long-range (or often just mid-range) goals. Like, instead of jumpig online and posting on ILE when I get back from work, I am exercising--except for right now. I will go and do my exercises right this minute! Because the streets are full of beautiful women waiting to be liberated from their already scanty summer clothes.

― Rockist Scientist, Monday, 23 June 2003 20:47 (twenty-two years ago)

Seems like every time I taking the easy way out of things, shit gets more complicated than I ever could have imagined, and I realize I would've been better off accepting whatever challenge or struggle I was trying to avoid ... But that's just me ... I have friends who just seem to coat merrily along, and they baffle (and sometimes infuriate) me.

― jewelly (jewelly), Monday, 23 June 2003 20:53 (twenty-two years ago)

basing your entire worldview on an Eagles song, C/D?

Strive for the mid-point between "Take it Easy" and "Life In The Fast Lane".

― brg30 (brg30), Monday, 23 June 2003 23:35 (twenty-two years ago)

I have a lot of nervous energy & anxiety all the time yet somehow people still perceive me as being laid-back, which I don't really understand.

― s1utsky (slutsky), Monday, 23 June 2003 23:42 (twenty-two years ago)

basing your entire worldview on an Eagles song, C/D?

classic, but only if its witchy woman.

if you take risks sometimes and be adventurous, you come to realise that its not all that hard or scarey. though sometimes, as a permanently highly strung individual, i wish i could just chill out for a while.

― di smith (lucylurex), Monday, 23 June 2003 23:44 (twenty-two years ago)

oh, you mean witchAY woman.

― Josh (Josh), Tuesday, 24 June 2003 00:15 (twenty-two years ago)

if i based my life on 'take it easy' i'd have to wear a truckers cap

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Tuesday, 24 June 2003 02:20 (twenty-two years ago)

FUCK PEOPLE THEY SUCK

― Millar (Millar), Tuesday, 24 June 2003 02:53 (twenty-two years ago)

i hate everything is thattaway

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Tuesday, 24 June 2003 02:55 (twenty-two years ago)

if taking things easy=being relaxed in your mind, and not stressing out over things then CLASSIC

if taking things easy=having a beer and kicking back with a couple friends, hey thats cool too!

― gareth (gareth), Tuesday, 24 June 2003 07:17 (twenty-two years ago)

take it to the limit one mo' time

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 24 June 2003 07:18 (twenty-two years ago)

http://www.acmewebpages.com/graphics/pic31.jpg

fat, drunk and stupid is the best way to go thru life

― Bob Shaw (Bob Shaw), Tuesday, 24 June 2003 08:57 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm trying to learn how to take it easy - and it's hell. Plain and simple. I've gone from working 60+ hours a week, going to grad school full-time, and volunteering for 20 hours a week to, well, my current life which involves sleeping 16 hours a day and seeing the doctor every other day (this is what happens when one doesn't take a vacation for a long, long time).

So now I am trying to be laid-back and mellow and to just let life happen - it sucks. Big time. I feel like a slug. Or pond algae. But I do like Jim Belushi.

― I'm Passing Open Windows (Ms Laura), Wednesday, 25 June 2003 01:39 (twenty-two years ago)

That does suck.

Taking it easy (within reason) as a choice=classic

Taking it easy as necessity=dud dud dud.

― JuliaA (j_bdules), Wednesday, 25 June 2003 02:30 (twenty-two years ago)

one year passes...

Oh dear, you know what? Taking it easy all the time is a bit of a dud...I really ought to get more motivated about basically everything.

― jel -- (jel), Sunday, 24 October 2004 14:55 (twenty-one years ago)

I haven't been doing a lot of it recently, so doing quite a lot now is pretty good.

― Matt (Matt), Sunday, 24 October 2004 15:09 (twenty-one years ago)

nine months pass...

It occured to me, that taking it easy is probably the best thing you can do.

― jel -- (jel), Wednesday, 27 July 2005 16:14 (twenty years ago)

three weeks pass...

It's my ambition to take it easy though. All success and creativity should appear to be effortless.

― jel -- (jel), Thursday, 18 August 2005 16:02 (twenty years ago)

one year passes...

I've really come to hate taking it easy, but it seems to be my long-established modus operandi. Is it really possible to break one's habitual laziness by sheer will?

― A-ron Hubbard (Hurting), Thursday, 5 October 2006 21:02 (nineteen years ago)

Taking it easy =! effortless-looking success & creativity, which I think takes more work and practice than probably anything.

Also the phrase "taking it easy" reminds me of stoner jerkoffs and the world's two shittiest cartoon characters:
"img src="http://users.cwnet.com/xephyr/rich/dzone/hoozoo/images/timon2.gif">

― Abbott (Abbott), Thursday, 5 October 2006 21:06 (nineteen years ago)

oh dammit

http://users.cwnet.com/xephyr/rich/dzone/hoozoo/images/timon2.gif

― Abbott (Abbott), Thursday, 5 October 2006 21:07 (nineteen years ago)

Funny, I just had a melodramatic conversation about this last night, in which I decided I should probably start looking for jobs/applying to schools.

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 5 October 2006 21:10 (nineteen years ago)

I've been "taking it easy" at home with two kids for the past 8 years. I went back to school at the beginning of September and I'm so much happier! I think I need a goal or purpose in my life beyond keeping the kids alive. Also, the social aspect of it is really helpful.

Your mileage may vary, of course...

― Sara R-C (Sara R-C), Thursday, 5 October 2006 21:15 (nineteen years ago)

who is this mysterious over-riding life principal? and shouldn't he be cracking the whip instead of taking it easy?

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 5 October 2006 21:46 (nineteen years ago)

If you're living at your parents' home after 25, you might be taking it too easy.

― Bob Six (bobbysix), Thursday, 5 October 2006 22:06 (nineteen years ago)

I've got this horrible unexamined prejudice that people who object to "taking it easy" are the bastards who make peoples' lives miserable in the interest of progress.

― Leopold Boom! (noodle vague), Thursday, 5 October 2006 22:44 (nineteen years ago)

Just to elaborate, for the last two and a half years I've been working a pretty easy legal news job where I now make more than most of my ex liberal arts major friends (although I don't get to work in a sexy New York media environment). I can get away with a good deal of slacking and have little supervision. The job was slightly challenging at first but once you get the hang of it can be done asleep, and I'm very bored. A few months ago I did take on some slightly more challenging stuff (which requires a little extra time as well), but I keep copping out of doing the really challening stuff, which would be writing full-length articles for the company's new site.

I feel like I should be doing something more rewarding, but it's just hard to give up the easy money and short hours.

― A-ron Hubbard (Hurting), Friday, 6 October 2006 02:30 (nineteen years ago)

I would like to say that although I have huge admiriation for Sara's return to school and (as much as possible) an understanding for her motives, raising children can hardly be seen as "taking it easy" so she should therefore excuse herself from this thread.

― Sam: Screwed and Chopped (Molly Jones), Friday, 6 October 2006 02:41 (nineteen years ago)

Sam, you're right that raising kids isn't "taking it easy" - I won't lie. However, what I mean is that I've been letting my brain go soft, letting my husband do things for me that I should do (like driving in the Cities - hell, I think the last time I pumped gas was in 1995 or something...), all the little things that add up to me being a brainless pile of mush. My kids are going to grow up and move out someday (hopefully anyway). I could stay at home and be a housewife if I wanted to. That's not necessarily taking it easy, either, of course... I just need a goal and a Plan. Not everyone does.

(I hope that made sense and didn't sound snotty!)

― Sara R-C (Sara R-C), Friday, 6 October 2006 03:25 (nineteen years ago)

Is it really possible to break one's habitual laziness by sheer will?

Jeez, I hope so. My laziness and my paralysis-by-fear are feeding each other and it's a hard cycle to break.

― The Bearnaise-Stain Bears (Rock Hardy), Friday, 6 October 2006 03:42 (nineteen years ago)

Amen brother.

― A-ron Hubbard (Hurting), Friday, 6 October 2006 03:46 (nineteen years ago)

Ok then, let's break out the self-help techniques.

1) One thing I realized recently that helps is that, when I'm getting all down on myself for being lazy, I try to think of a recent time when I DIDN'T behave in a lazy way and try to feel good about it, for example, on the train to DC I spent most of the time doing my work and got most of my work done.

― A-ron Hubbard (Hurting), Friday, 6 October 2006 03:48 (nineteen years ago)

2) Have kids. Borrow some if necessary. Little feckers create work all day long.

― Arno Oliver Bedder (noodle vague), Friday, 6 October 2006 06:37 (nineteen years ago)

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