By
Joan Whetzel
I have not had the opportunity to do much lollygagging since my
husband died last May. I am currently feeling a strong urge to do some serious
lollygagging though. All the work my daughter and I have put in since his death
and all the work I've been putting in to finding a full time job has put a
major dent in my energy levels as well my mental and emotional well being. A
little lollygagging could just be the medicine I need to recharge my batteries.
Lollygagging Defined
Lollygagging,
according most dictionaries, seems to mean:
·
performance of activities that have no real purpose..
·
fooling around.
·
spending time doing things with no real goal in mind.
·
dawdling.
·
dallying.
·
procrastinating.
·
being flat-out lazy.
·
dragging ones feet to avoid doing something one is supposed to
be doing.
For those who are
driven by the need to fill all your waking hours with meaningful tasks, then,
lollygagging would be considered a waste of time - and probably a waste of
energy as well.
Lollygagging in America
In the American
military, to a charge new recruits with lollygagging is to accuse them of
fooling around or wasting time. For us mere civilians, it is sometimes used to
refer to kissing and caressing a loved one. The term "lollygagging"
first appeared in American usage around the mid-1800s and was hurled at anyone having
the gall to disgrace common decency with such licentious behavior (the whole
kissing and caressing in full public view; you know, p.d.a. or public displays
of affection). How it came to mean wasting time, I haven't discovered yet.
How Does One Lollygag These Days?
Well, I suppose by
putting off this blog, by not writing one last week, forcing me to write this
blog today - well, I guess that was a form of lollygagging. Though,
technically, I wasn't dawdling, I actually had to use the time and energy on
another task of equal importance, but one that made me money (nearly $200). So
I wasn't technically lollygagging since I wasn't wasting time or energy.
Other ways I think
I could lollygag might include:
1.
reading a book.
2.
going to a matinee movie, instead of working (I've done that
twice recently and it felt great to play hooky).
3.
take a picnic in the middle of the day (the temperature is
right, but the recent rains have put my favorite picnic grounds under water, or
made them too muddy to enjoy).
4.
window shopping at the local mall - ugh! I hate shopping.
5.
meandering the internet, looking for useless information.
6.
sitting on the front porch, watching the grass grow.
7.
doing the whole couch potato thing - though I have found in
recent years that I can't stand just sitting there in front of the TV. My hands need to keep busy, otherwise I feel
like I'm wasting time. And I get extremely board, no matter
how interesting the show or movie is.
I'm sure there are
some really great ways to lollygag, though I can't seem to think of any other
than these. I am getting a little tired of these same few lollygagging
techniques. I wish someone would send me some good lollygagging ideas.
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