Can you be lazy AND hard working?

If there are two words that have been used to describe me a lot during my 19 years of life, they would be "hardworking" and "lazy". They have been used in many different scenarios and by very different people. Sometimes even the same people use these two opposite words in the same sentence to me. So am I a lazy people who can work hard, or a hard worker who sometimes can be lazy?

I am usually called a hard worker when I am doing a particular task such as completing a series of tasks at work which needed to be done quickly, or for revising and completing an essay to a good standard. It is these sort of tasks which I do put everything into and knuckle down to get them done. The quicker they are done, the quicker I can get on with something I would rather do and answers the following question which is, why am I lazy?

I love to do nothing. Nothing gives me better joy than sitting in my bedroom, with a book, or my iPad, a cup of tea, and basically not doing anything to a great amount of productivity. I've never been an active person, I hate participating in sports and would rather curl up in my bed and sleep. I also love to sleep, I am that person who will sleep until 1pm if they could every day. I love being confined in my room alone and just being me. I feel most comfortable doing that, nothing is out of my comfort zone or ability in there. I am myself in that room, which to my parents when my room is not tidy or I haven't come out of it for days is what being lazy is all about.

It's like I have a split personality, teachers at school and people I work with would never call me lazy and find it hard to believe that I have that trait within me to just do nothing. In their eyes I am golden, I get things done quickly and to a good standard. I am a different person to what I act like in my spare time when I am working, but isn't everyone?

Most people do act differently in different parts of their lives, many do lie about who they are at work so that they don't know who they really are in their own time. We all have a mask, but some people really are just one or the other. We've all come across people who are lazy in every aspect of their life and then the latter who just don't stop and work too hard. Neither are a good trait to have in my opinion all the time.

The more aspects of you personality you use in your life, the more interesting you are and the less stress or lack of accomplishment you feel.

If you feel like you are working yourself too hard, take a break! Go travelling, see the world, and find ways to use your hard working trait in a more fun and relaxing way.

If you feel that you are too lazy and haven't accomplished anything, find one thing to do and complete it. Then do something else, and another thing after that etc. The small steps you take will then allow you to feel more accomplished and less lazy. You can still be lazy in the evenings or weekends, but allow some time to work, meet people, write, read, explore, its so liberating after your first success.

To answer my initial question, yes you can be lazy and hard working and its okay to be both! Its great to be able to work hard and play hard or do nothing hard! Enjoy who you are, and if you feel like you are slipping more onto one side of the seesaw, then do something about it. But always be yourself and no one else.