Say Yes.

I am lazy. And no, I don’t mean the kind of lazy where you just want to lie around all day watching TV and eating chips and popcorn and ice cream because real food is too much work. (I mean sometimes I’m that kind of lazy…but who isn’t really?) No, I’m talking about the kind of lazy that keeps you from really enjoying life. The kind of lazy that makes you say no to things that you know will be fun and will enrich your life. The kind of lazy that leaves you home alone in your apartment washing dishes and sweeping up microscopic grains of dust that somehow seem to multiply just faster than you can remove them, while your friends are hiking a 14er or skiing fresh powder or lying on a beach somewhere clear and beautiful. It’s just easier to stay home. It’s easier to be alone and to look at the pictures later and have a moment of regret before moving on with your life.

I am that kind of lazy. Or I was.

The past 4 weekends in a row I have done something that I normally would have said no to. In fact, initially I did say no. I always said no.

“No, I think I’m just going to sleep in and get some stuff done. You guys have fun at the beach.”

“Ugh. I drank a little too much last night and got home really late. I don’t want to get on a bus and ride to this festival. I know it’ll be fun but I kinda just wanna take it easy.”

“Man, I really don’t wanna go anywhere this weekend. We don’t know these people very well and it’ll be a lot of work. I know we’ll get to be on a boat and it’ll probably be relaxing but…”

Yeah, THAT kind of lazy.

But I know this about myself, so the past 4 weekends in a row, after saying no, and grumbling with myself a little bit, I packed up my red and white striped bag, grabbed my swim-suit, or sunscreen or sandals looked at my roommate and said, “Ok, let’s go!”

And we did.

It didn’t occur to me how important this was until this last weekend though. The wind in my face and hair and the light spray of the ocean as we sped towards white sands and bluer waters beneath a sky so clear you could almost see the future, and it was good. Not ‘good’ like “oh yeah I’m good, thanks”.  I mean ‘good’ like water when you’re hiking in the desert, like standing at 13,000 feet for the sunrise, like finishing something old or starting something new.  I mean good like soul food and music that gives you chills, like laughing for no good reason. Good like friendships that can endure the silence of distance, or time or even just a walk without any words. Good.

It’s good to say ‘yes’ sometimes. It’s good to let yourself have fun and to enjoy life to the fullest. So then I guess here’s to not being lazy…at least not when it means I might get to experience something …GOOD.