Do most people enjoy working?

Question

I never had a job I liked and I prefer to mope around and waste time. I never liked schoolwork but I forced myself to do it although I chose an easy major in college. Generally my room is messy. My question is, could this be related to something psychological (my parents never let me do any kind of work when I was a kid and people have mentioned that I never grew up) or am I just inherently lazy? Do others struggle with this or do most people like to fill their days with meaningful activity?

Answer 1

You sound a lot like me. Whenever I found aj ob, I liked it the first 3 weeks or the first 2 months but by the 14th month, the job starts to get to me. The longest job I have held was 2 years long. I didn't even go to college. I enjoy free time a lot. I even have a life goal to find the job that I can enjoy for years and years and even enjoy through retirement. I sure hope that it will come me at some time in my life.

Answer 2

Blaming it on being "just inherently lazy" is an easy way to dismiss your problem. That you "never grew up" is more to the point. I'm sure you have "grown up" in many ways, but some emotional growth may have been stunted. It would be worth pursuing with a qualified counselor. There is no reason to try to blame anyone for the way you feel, but if you want to have a more meaningful life -- and it sounds as if you do -- you've taken the first step. As for your second question, yes, there are other people who struggle with this, though some do find meaningful ways to spend their time. With help, you could be more like the latter.

Answer 3

You are talking about your own attitude toward work and other things. Quite simply put, attitude is a choice. You can choose to like or dislike work. You can choose to like or dislike any food. You can choose to like or dislike any type of music.

People say that you should find a job you like. I say choose to like the job you have....if it is a dead end job and you want something better, that is fine, but enjoy it while you have it.

A lot of people will claim that this is BS. That is people who choose to let other things let them be miserable. You can choose to be happy in most any situation. I will give you an example:

You wreck a car,but you are okay. That sucks. Most people dwell on it for days. The reality is that you can choose to let it eat you up, or you can choose to continue to be happy in life. No matter which you choose, the car is still wrecked, so why waste a stretch of your life dwelling on it. It is an inconvenience, and it sucks, but it sucks whether you spend weeks depressed or happy.

There is a Chinese proverb which states that any emotion only lasts 7 seconds...after that you are holding on. So, if you are going to hold on to emotion, hold on to the good ones.

Life is too short not to enjoy, and you can choose to enjoy anything. I went to a play called "Rent" the play was horrible, and vulgar and an affront to my morals. I enjoyed my time because I appreciated the company I was in. Because I appreciated the fact that I was capable of going, economically, physically, etc. The very fact that I could go made me appreciate it.

I am rambling, but adjust your mind in everything you do. I recommend a book called "Renewing the Mind" by Casey Treat. It is a Christian book and is along the same lines of what I have said but in a Biblical sense.

Have a fabulous day, and if it is a terrible day, make a fabulous one out of it.

Answer 4

I partially struggle with what you're talking about. Up until I started teaching, I disliked the jobs I had. But I was OK with doing school work. I've learned that I like anything related to education. Maybe that's what you need: to find your passion. Everyone has one; it just takes some people a little longer to find it.

I'm a messy person as well. In fact, I've resolved recently to get rid of anything and everything that has no use to me. I started this weekend. :)

For me, mine felt related to depression, though I have never been diagnosed. But when I feel unmotivated, it's usually because I'm not feeling very good about myself.

But if you've never had to really work, it could just be conditional. Many people who have never had to work very hard for the things they have tend not to value the importance of having to struggle. I wouldn't say you haven't grown up because I don't know you, but the more you have to work for something, the more you value it.

Hope that helps. Now that I teach college courses, I'm a lot happier. I've tried doing other jobs since I started teaching, and none of them made me as happy as I was while teaching. This isn't to say that there aren't things about teaching that I dislike. I truly hate grading papers or working from home, and I'll play video games as long as I can to avoid it.

So, I think you're pretty normal. Just a product of your environment.

Answer 5

I do love my job and am truly grateful for it, but over the years I've come to realize that it's not usually a job that stresses you out as much as the people you have to deal with regularly on a day to day basis. Yes, sometimes the job gets tedious and the boredom overwhelming, but it beats the alternative of sitting around at home going stir-crazy.


My parents over-protected and pampered me as well out of concern for my moodiness and often troubled emotional nature. I definitely had a hard time "growing up." Sometimes it seems like I'm just hanging by a thread in dealing with the day to day stuff that most people simply take in stride. So, I kind of know where you're coming from.

You may be depressed as well. It may be worth talking to your Dr. about all this.

Answer 6

Personally I love my job, that´s why studied medicine. I don´t care if I have to be 32 hours in a row in the hospital.
My parents never forced me to work when I was a child, but they fomented me to work in little non pressure jobs like washing they cars, I had a little farm of hens and sell the eggs.
I think this was really helpful in my process of growing up and maturing.
But I have met many friends that never worked as a kids and they are excellent workers.
Hope this is only a stage of laziness and you can get out of it
Good luck

Answer 7

I find that when I am working, I feel better about myself. I have a better out look on life. I took a year off of work, I needed to devote all my time helping my child over the bad time he was going through. I found that I started to let things slide. my house was not as clean as it use to be. I noticed that I was avoiding people. I started going into a depression. I always worked. I found when I went back to work, I felt so much better about my self. Don't get me wrong, about taking time to help my child. He needed me, but it felt so good to be back in the real world. Nothing feels better then being around other people and feeling good about yourself.

Answer 8

In general, no one enjoys any work unless there is some meaning attached to it.

We may not like to see dull faces, but a doctor does this every day and enjoys it because he knows he is doing some useful work of curing them.

A person sweeping or moping floor knows that he is doing good work of improving hygiene.

You will also enjoy the work if you know the purpose of the work and your role in the work. How your work improves the life on this earth.

Answer 9

The majority of people don't like to work but they realize that if they ever want to have the things they do like in life they need to work.

With respect to not filling your days with any type of activity, that could be a medical issue, maybe you have something wrong that needs to be addressed that is causing your low level of energy.

It's not normal to want to do nothing at all. You can't blame your parents for that, it sounds like they were just trying to let you enjoy your childhood before you were forced to grow up and be self suficient.

Answer 10

You just need to find the right job. I used to work for the phone company installing equipment. It was great traveling around to all the businesses and meeting new people every day. I worked in the LA area and got to go to the movies studios etc. and other intresting places. Never a dull day.