October 2026

By Richard Fleming

Photo courtesy of Mathias Reding

We oldsters certainly have our shortcomings. I could spend the better part of an afternoon recounting examples of the foibles and follies we increasingly manifest as the years tick by. Less stamina. Creaky aching joints. Wrinkly sagging skin. Occasional, let me put this carefully, hygiene challenges. We are prone to falling. Names tend to escape us. We often forget why we went to the dining room or the front porch. To the irritation of our children and grandchildren, we tend to repeat the same stories multiple times.

OK, I’m just identifying issues most people reading this blog are already familiar with. We know them from our own experiences as Boomers and Silent Generation folks.

But a contrasting point I try to highlight in my posts is that aging has positive aspects as well. My mind sometimes has a hard time recalling them, but I am certain there are pleasing aspects to the process of growing old.

One which came to mind recently is the simple fact that older folks are incapable of being lazy. It is physically and mentally impossible for us to be slothful.

I can already hear some people thinking, “Whoa, hold up now, where did you come up with such a ridiculous concept?”

What brought this idea to mind was a recent comment my wife made late one afternoon, when she said she felt she was being being lazy. She mentioned this after doing several hours of work around the house, exercising, and completing her daily Duolingo Spanish lesson. Yes, there had been some down time. She had taken a number of breaks during the day. But I certainly did not view her as having lazed around, wasting time.

After a bit of reflection, it struck me that older folks are actually, factually incapable of being lazy. To understand why, we need to start with first principles. What is laziness? Various dictionaries offer slightly different explanations, but an accurate synthesis defines laziness as: “an unwillingness to work, exert effort, or be active despite having the ability to do so.”

The operative concept in this definition, as it applies to old folks, is that being lazy requires a person have the ability to work, exert effort, or be active. Let’s take note of the obvious. Most seniors have physical and mental constraints, beyond our control, which make it difficult to efficiently perform the quantity of work and activities that younger folks are fully able to carry out in shorter periods of time.

Looking at my own situation, at the end of many a day I look back and it seems I did not accomplish much. I spent an hour on home maintenance activities. I read a couple of newspapers. I exercised for half an hour. I did a modest amount of yardwork. But that was about it. Total time spent on productive work was maybe three hours. And I invariably think of all the work that needs to be done which I did not touch: decluttering the garage, organizing the study, filing papers and documents, to name just a few. To be clear, I was more than willing to work all day, exert effort and be active. It’s just that my 75-year-old body had other ideas. So by definition I was not being lazy.

The older I get, the less efficient and less productive my days become. I still get things done. It is rare for me to accomplish nothing at all. But there is no doubt my daily workload is less now than five years ago, and much lower than ten years back. And if I am fortunate enough to live another five or fifteen years, I have little doubt my capacity will diminish from what it is today.

I think my situation parallels that of many seniors.

I hope this concept that old age and laziness are incompatible now makes sense. Old people are no more capable of being lazy than we are of having smooth skin or being able to outrun our 8-year-old grandkids.

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In closing I want to be clear I am not endorsing the idea that old folks sit on the couch all day. I’m still an advocate for staying as active as possible and engaged with family, friends, and our communities. Even as our bodies and minds grow old, there is still much we can do and there is still much that needs to be done. And remaining active and engaged is a key part of successful aging.

I also want to acknowledge there is significant variability in the onset of the inevitable restrictions we each must face. Props to the 80-year-olds who can complete marathons. They are rare birds and more power to them.

But we need to understand it is OK if we don’t get much done today. There is always tomorrow. We don’t need to worry about laziness. That concept is well past its expiration date.

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