Are you also so bad at doing nothing?

Are you the type that goes through the hotel room with a disinfectant wipe? Or that shifts things around a bit, throws a rug over the table, and if you're really in the mood, walks to the market to get some fresh flowers for your rental? My beloved manages to lie by the pool for exactly five minutes before he grabs the net and fishes out the leaves. Doing nothing isn't that easy, and there's a reason for that, as I read in the incredibly fun Quest Summer Book.

1. It's baked in
Our ancestors were almost all Protestant or Catholic and they taught that there was a place in heaven for pious workers, so there we toiled through the weeks, hoping to one day float on a cloud. That was Max Weber's theory. But even in countries where the majority is Islamic or Buddhist, laziness is not appreciated.

2. People who work are happier
And that is not only related to the financial security that work brings, studies comparing wealthy people who do not work with wealthy workers showed that those who had to get up to complete a task were indeed happier.

3. We want recognition
In our work and apparently also on vacation. That the maid gives an approving nod when she enters your nicely customized hotel room.

4. Relaxation after exertion is a thousand times nicer
Stepping off a plane feeling wrung out and longing for that first Margarita or daiquiri on the beach is definitely nicer than rolling lazily there. And what my biggest lesson was during a sabbatical: that portion of stress you still create. You might worry about the baker's wife who consistently doesn't greet you or the yoga teacher who seems to prefer the other classmates. It's still in you and it has to come out, so you might as well do something that earns you a little money, because cocktails and sunbeds on the beach are still not free.