Another lazy stereotype.
Meet Bob, the ultimate couch potato. He spent his days binge-watching TV, snacking on chips, and perfecting the art of doing absolutely nothing. This laziness was his slow poison. People told him to be himself. It had become a new lazy stereotype. He listened to the people and did not make any changes to his lifestyle. After a few years of living like this, Bob found out that he had become diabetic. He had gained a lot of weight and now there was very little he could do about it. He repented and the journey to be fit again looked momentous to him knowing that he was a lazy potato. He lived the rest of his life being lazy but happy.
Picture is my own.
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"People told him to be himself" is a tricky advice, isn't it?
I totally agree 💯
I think the best advice for Bob could be: be the best version of yourself, and in this way, perhaps they would make him think about how to live in peace without harming his health and without hurting others. And if in self-discovery he finds the right balance, then he will have found the meaning, his own personal meaning. By the way, @saimgopang34, you have presented an extraordinary personal story from which many existential analyses can be derived. I sincerely congratulate you, as I congratulate @slowjournals for their profound question.
Bob isn’t a textbook case—he's a unique individual. What some might call 'laziness' could be exhaustion, inner resistance, or simply his way of experiencing time. The real question isn't whether he fits the 'lazy' stereotype, but rather: Does this rhythm of life cause him pain or give him peace? If he's content—without harming anyone—who gets to define what's 'normal' here?
Diabetes isn't a personal failure; it's the body signaling that something's wrong. And his happiness, even if it challenges us, is valid. As a therapist, my role wouldn't be to dictate how he should live, but to help him discern whether his choices come from fear ('I've given up because I can't take it anymore') or freedom ('I choose this, even if it's different'). Because what's truly unhealthy isn't straying from the norm—it's betraying yourself.