La Voz de Galicia – March 15, 2026 →
Xan says that we need to do some exercise. That we’re getting to an age where taking care of ourselves isn’t just about eating a balanced diet and resting well, but also requires moving more than we currently do. And I reply that walking an hour a day should count as exercise, even if my walking isn’t particularly fast, since any flower or insect, any everyday scene, makes me pause along the way to take it in, even if only for a second. We’re not old (I’m forty-five and he’s fifty-six), but the pace of life in our professions means we spend a good part of our days working while sitting.
I suppose that, because of the way I am in the world, most of my friends are older than me. Some of them are around eighty years old, and among the things they have in common is that they do some kind of exercise (yoga, cycling) and that they have an active social life that includes people younger than themselves. And that’s where Xan and I see the problem ahead of us: it’s hard to adopt a new routine when you’re comfortable with the one you have (I’d rather spend those free hours reading or walking than exercising), but it’s also hard to make new friends, or to make younger friends…
There are many studies on the positive impact of exercise and social life in old age and on happiness, but the reality is that in these times in which we are more isolated than ever in our own private universe, it is increasingly difficult to get moving or to make real friends. But as Xan says, if the world doesn’t end first, either we make an effort now or we won’t make it to old age—and I reply that if we do, let it be together and somewhat accompanied.
