Today I´m bringing you one of those untranslatables phrases that I enjoy collecting, only this time it goes the other way round: it´s an expression in Spanish for which I can´t find a good English translation.
Situación de ejemplo: es viernes por la tarde, y la fiesta de Navidad de la empresa empieza en un par de horas. Ya se ha hecho de noche y hace mucho frío en la calle; la nieve de la noche anterior se ha empezado a convertir en hielo. En casa se está calentito, muy a gusto, y cuando empiezo a pensar en arreglarme y salir para ir hasta el centro de Dublín, a la fiesta…
Me da pereza.
Eso es lo que diría yo en español, «me da pereza», que viene a ser algo así como que «me sobreviene un sentimiento de vagancia al pensar en hacer X». Es como que me canso sólo de pensarlo. Es una poderosa sensación que se me viene encima… y que me empuja hacia el sofá 😀
Looking around, I´ve found two possible translations: "I don't feel like it", which more literally translates as "no me apetece", and "I can't/couldn't be bothered", which basically means that I'm not going to do it, either because I don't consider it to be necessary, or because I'm not interested, or because I'm too lazy to make the effort.
I guess from those two, the closest one is "I don't feel like it", because it conveys the idea that I think doing X is a good idea in general, but at this moment in particular I don't have the energy or the will to do it. The other one, "couldn't be bothered", doesn't fit as well, in my opinion: it doesn't seem to me that it values X in any way (due to passivity, indifference, or who knows why) and it's also assuming that, whatever X is, I'm not going to do it.
Y esa es, en mi opinión, la gracia del «me da pereza», o del «no me apetece»: que impone pero no impide, es una barrera que se puede superar. Nuestro cerebro muchas veces se quiere ir a lo fácil, a lo cómodo, a lo que nos ahorre más energía, y por muy buenas razones (véase instinto de conservación). Pero nosotros no tenemos por qué hacerle siempre caso, porque él no siempre sabe lo que más nos conviene…
I'm not saying that we shouldn't listen to our body when it really needs to rest, of course we should. But beyond that, it may be good for us to think about what it is that's holding us back, and why. What's hiding behind that laziness? What are we really trying to avoid? And what reward can we find if we go ahead regardless? That way, we will know if it's worth making that initial effort.
Did I finally go to the party? Yes, I did. Why? Because I knew that once I got there, I would have a great time, and that's exactly what happened. What was my strategy? The same one that's worked for me so many times in the past - going straight into getting ready without thinking too much about it, and most importantly, not sitting on the couch!
What about you? What is it that you don't usually feel like doing, and how do you motivate yourself to get over it?