Slacking, staycation, and the Optimism Bias

Me in pink shirt on the right, trying my best to dig myself out of a hole during a short seminar sponsored by the Thomson Reuters Foundation in Manila in August 2019. Facilitators include Nick Phythian (left, standing) and Pulitzer Prize winner Manny Mogato (center, standing). (Photo by Emmanuele Parra/Thomson Reuters)

Immediately after I quit my job last year, I looked forward to a month of staying in the Great Indoors and do absolutely nothing.

You got that right, San Mig Light: nothing — just laying about, lollygagging, drifting in and out, like a vegetable fitted with a mediocre human mind (i.e., a set of string beans with brains, a drunkard with an intense hangover, a certain Philippine president, etc.)

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