'Stop being a wuss! ' - that's the usage you hear a lot these days. Anyway, whatever the etymology, a politician was said to be 'a liberal wuss' - that is a coward.
That is also true of people who, like your columnist, a guest Bartleby, more often suffer from the inverse affliction-having trouble putting things off even if they probably ought to be.
Once we learn to see ourselves as already, and by nature, foolish, it really doesn't matter so much if we do one more thing that might make us look a bit stupid.
NFL players typically spend 45 minutes to an hour with weightlifting, another hour in aerobic exercise, and then three and a half to four hours of actual practice on the field during the off season.