My mother is the same way. She's been retired for many years, but she still works. She sews everyday. Sells some, or gives them away, but it's actual work to do what she does.
My father also has been retired, but keeps doing actual jobs for people. For example, he helped old people with taxes for a while (got paid). Then he became some finance thing in his parish, which is an actual job as well, even if he doesn't accept payment.
My grandmother was the same way too, which explains why she lived til a ripe old age. She never stopped working. Sewing, cleaning, cooking, etc. She was on a strict schedule.
My grandfather was the same way. The month before he died, he was still doing my aunt's yardwork on a strict schedule. The man had the strictest regimen imaginable.
My wife is like I am. If there's nothing to do, she'll start doing art projects (many of which end up getting sold, gifted, or used in lieu of bought decorations).
My brother and SIL are the same way. Constantly working on random things. Often income producing.
Broadly speaking, we are a successful family, because we rarely stop working. That's not to say we don't relax, but even relaxing takes work. For example, orchestrating a vacation with two children is actual work. But work is nothing to be upset by. Ideally, most of your life is spent working.
The main problem with work in American society today is not the work part. It's the fact that you're doing someone else's work, and that most work is not manual, tactile, or creative. It'd be better if more people did their own work, instead of hiring it out in some grand ponzi scheme. I'd recommend reading the rule of St Benedict. This is an ancient idea. It's really terrible, and boring, to do nothing all the time. It's more fun to do stuff.
Again, I literally mean this. As a child, I'd often sit around and complain about being bored (parents didn't buy us video games or movies, and computers were for working). My dad would solve this by giving me manual labor tasks. That is how I solved my boredom as a child. One day my dad decided he wanted a sprinkler system, so that became my brother's and my job when we said we were bored. I don't understand why this should be seen as sad or as working too much. We were happy to do it, and it beat being bored.
I'll quickly point out that while I am American, my parents are immigrants, and my grandparents and they were born and raised in another culture. My grandparents lived the majority of their life in another non-Western country.
