Americans Who Call Europeans Lazy | by Rocco Pendola | Sep, 2024 | Medium

Yet, we flock to the continent in droves to experience their wonderful, pedestrian-centered cities and towns where life happens outside in vibrant parks and plazas. Do we not recognize the connection between this so-called laziness and a better quality of life? I write a lot about my “struggle” — (the undoubtedly privileged struggle is real, baby!) — with shedding outdated, unhealthy and, ultimately, pointless notions of work ethic. Work ethic. The thing that countless numbers of Americans (and others) latch onto with a sense of pride. A work ethic that used to dominate my life. An all-consuming idea that I could always work more and, therefore, earn more (not true), so my time wasn’t well spent slacking (as in, doing something else, like taking a walk, instead of working). When I used to have thoughts about working less — about my inclination to really only want to work a few hours a day, a few days a week — I experienced guilt. When I began expressing these feelings out loud, it felt

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• Quang Nguyen