That’s always my son’s answer when I ask him how he’s doing. Most of the time, he has time for himself, for what he loves, and is simply happy. You can see that in his face.

His twin sister still responds when I ask her if she knows what she wants to be. “Stay happy.” And in one sentence she lets me know how nice it is to put her imagination into words (write a book) and listen to music while doing it.

First and foremost for both of them – so I perceive – is to enjoy life/the moment and to be happy.

How fascinating.

At the beginning, I had a strange feeling about such answers, because I didn’t know them as a child and teenager: “Doing nothing” or “just enjoying life” automatically meant laziness, without goals, without success.

And we didn’t want to be called lazy. The consequence was, probably unconsciously, that we always found something to deal with.

Today, thanks to smartphones, we can occupy ourselves anywhere, and we may feel like we’re doing something.

When I ask my son in some situations: “Could it be that you are lazy?”, the answer promptly comes “YES” and he grins properly.

Her sister is always supportive and rightly asks, “What’s wrong with that?”

Man, such statements did not occur to me at the time at her age.

… And as is so often the case, I find myself wanting to take over my upbringing without questioning.

How nice that my children grow up differently than I did, and that I can learn a lot from them.

They incorporate the “beautiful moments” into everyday life.

While we adults may think – this is how I perceive it in my environment: Only after work or during the holidays or when we are retired will we enjoy life.

I also note that without “being lazy” there wouldn’t be so many ingenious inventions and great approaches to doing something better.

I also see the other positive effect: admitting that I’m lazy to do something from time to time frees me from excuses.

In the second step, I can weigh up whether or not to overcome my laziness; Whether it’s worth working for this cause, and whether I can do it better or faster.

After all, my husband manages to do nothing at all and stands by it. So I come home and find him sitting in the garden. He doesn’t do anything and is simply satisfied.

I didn’t know that before and was only allowed to learn later. Being alone and doing nothing.

Diversity also remains exciting within one’s own family, in every aspect.

Now over to you:

How much hashtag#Nichts do you do today?

In your experience, are there cultural differences?