I’m Enthralled by the ‘Lie Flat’ Movement
What if doing nothing is aspirational after all?
I love doing nothing, but if I’m honest, I find it rather hard to get to a place where I’m able to do just that.
It’s embarrassing to admit, but I often have to set aside days where I don’t accomplish much of anything. When those days come, I revel in them, but it’s usually only because I’ve completed enough housework, life admin, and actual work to feel like I can get away with it.
My difficulty with doing nothing is perhaps why I’m so thrilled by reading about the “lie flat” movement, a defiant, subversive trend popularized by Chinese millennials who are tired of their culture’s tireless work ethic. In a viral post entitled “Lying Flat Is Justice,” former factor worker Luo Huazhong outlined why working hard was no longer for him. Instead, he wrote, he will live a simple life funded by odd jobs and meagre savings, free of striving for anything else.
It’s difficult when you’ve grown up in a culture that valorizes hard work above all else to see this outlook as anything but giving up or opting out. Or at best, a short-term tactic that will surely backfire eventually. It’s also often framed as a privilege to choose not to work hard, which to a large extent is true. But I also think there are all kinds of ways that we…
