Better Lazy Than Crazy: Why We All Need Down Time by Marilynn Preston on Creators.com

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Better Lazy Than Crazy: Why We All Need Down Time

Barack Obama has been accused of many things in his six years in the White House. He's not black enough. He's not right enough. He's too compliant. He's not compliant enough. And now, in the latest assault on his character, Fox News President Roger Ailes is publicly outing President Obama for being lazy.

As though that were a bad thing.

Wrong! Lazy is something to be proud of. Lazy means you understand there's a time to work and a time to play. It means you want to avoid burnout. It means you're aware that time away from the stresses of work — or looking for work — is necessary if you want to thrive and prosper.

I'm a certified expert in matters of healthy lifestyle — as well as being a licensed bartender — and I can tell you that if we all took a little more time in our crazy busy hectic lives to be lazy, we'd be meetin' and greetin' each other all up and down the road to a happier, healthier life.

"How often does he (President Obama) play basketball and golf?" Roger Ailes asks in his new book. "I wish I had that kind of time. He's lazy, but the media won't report that."

I'm not saying the president is or is not lazy. That will be decided in the basketball courts of public opinion. What I am saying is that when you have one of the most demanding jobs in the world, taking time off to shoot hoops, ride your bike or play a round of golf isn't laziness. It's good judgment. It's smart. It's what a more balanced, less frazzled lifestyle looks like.

"Roger!" I want to say. "We've never met, but I've seen pictures. You could use a little more laziness in your life."

Laziness is, after all, an evolved state. According to Zen masters, when you're lazy, you're liberated from the hard work of work. You're choosing to spend your leisure time in a way that brings you joy, ease, security. Google what Bertrand Russell has to say "In Praise of Laziness." Eye opening!

In fact, laziness is so good for your health we ought to make it a goal of the evolving Affordable Care Act. "People!" I can hear Stephen Colbert saying. "Stop working so hard.

You're not going to get ahead anyway, so why not do what your president does? Hit the gym. Practice your putting. Take the kids to the beach."

We'll get Shepard Fairey to do the iconic poster, substituting LAZY for HOPE. And Timothy Ferriss, that brave lad who started the Four Hour Work Week movement for working smarter, not harder, will be appointed to a Special Presidential Commission on Laziness that will take 12 years to come out with a report that confirms what science has already proven: A more relaxed, less stressed life is linked to longevity, because unrelieved stress creates chronic disease.

So I say to President Obama, stay your course. Continue to role model the kind of laziness that comes from refusing to work your self to the point of collapse. Which makes me think of our former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and how much better she'll feel when she learns how to be lazy.

OK, Barack has a lot more grey hair than when he started being president. But Hillary has a lot more of everything, including medical records.

Go Lazy! I want to tell her. Traveling 956,733 miles to visit 112 different countries to have 1,700 meetings with world leaders has taken its toll. I won't say Hillary's big brain was completely fried by the time she left the State Department, but it certainly showed signs of overheating.

Hillary, you're too smart to be so dumb about taking care of yourself. Get off the treadmill you haven't been on often enough, and get on the path to whatever wellness looks like to you. Please stay on that path until you can see your toes.

So what is the lesson of the day? Do your best impression of Gordon Gekko and repeat after me, and Bertrand Russell: Laziness is good!

ENERGY EXPRESS-O! TRUE ZEN, STILL TRUE

"There is deep down — underneath all the work I do — I think there's a laziness in me ... it's probably from, you know, growing up in Hawaii, and it's sunny outside and sitting on the beach." — President Obama, in a 2011 TV interview with Barbara Walters

Marilynn Preston — fitness expert, well being coach and speaker on healthy lifestyle issues — is the creator of Energy Express, the longest-running syndicated fitness column in the country. She has a website, http://marilynnpreston.com and welcomes reader questions, which can be sent to MyEnergyExpress@aol.com. To find out more about Preston and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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