If I had a nickel for every time some adult told me any of the above (or similar) when I was growing up, I could buy the fancy espresso maker of my dreams and still have enough left over for a year’s supply of beans.
I heard it at ten when I preferred to stay inside reading or drawing instead of running around shrieking on the playground with other kids. I'd hear it again in my teens when I didn't want to spend my summers taking more classes instead of actually enjoying my vacation.
And yes, I'd hear it some more (loudly) in my 20s and early 30s when I preferred freelancing or working on commission to the same shitty 9-to-5 hamster wheel everyone else seemed so excited about.
Eventually, I stopped questioning the verdict. “Lazy” and "troublemaker" were simply stamped on my mental passport in permanent ink, and I carried those labels everywhere I went. For years... decades, in some cases. Then one day, I realized maybe it's not quite as simple as people want to make it.
No, I'm not willing or able to pull double shifts at some thankless job I never wanted in the first place. But I can write like my life depends on it for 14 hours straight if I'm excited about a project I'm working on for a client or for myself. I finally got that maybe it was simply easier for other people to call me lazy than it was to understand that my motivation system runs on a different type of fuel.
That light-bulb moment sent me down a very worthwhile rabbit hole. And it made me wonder, what else do I still believe simply because someone, somewhere, told me to believe it? Spoiler: a lot. Chances are you're in a similar boat. See if any of the following sounds familiar.
