I have been waiting for a cloud of self-discipline to enfold me like a Hollywood starlet's fluffy robe but ALAS it is more of an emperor's-new-clothes kind of garment. This is a repeating late-May theme and I should probably make a note for my future self: Dear Future Jamie, it is likely that you will be tired when the spring semester ends.
I think that if I start counting tomorrow I have twelve weeks of summer ahead of me. I'm not teaching this summer, and I am looking forward to the break even though it is a little painful financially. I cannot confirm the date of our August departmental gathering, but I think it's on a Thursday in mid-August. Twelve weeks is a nice round number, so let's go with it, shall we?
This summer I want to be disciplined about tending my body: attending to food and sleep and exercise. Eating paleo is annoying and really probably too hip for the likes of me, but it turbo-charges my brain and my ability to cope. I'm going to aim for a lightly modified paleo program, in which I don't fuss about legumes and rice. I'm also curious about what might result from a daily yoga discipline coupled with more consistent aerobic exercise. Want to join me?
This summer I want to be consistent about daily spiritual reading instead of saving up a week's worth of Old Testament readings for our Saturday Adoration hour. I'd also like to work on a vespers habit with the kids, and on getting to a daily Mass or two each week.
Each day I'd like to spend some time on moving goals forward in a small but consistent way: an hour of daily writing time for work, 15 minutes of slapping pictures in albums for the family, a block of time focused on decluttering and de-shabbifying our house, and a bit of daily time finishing up Mystie Winckler's excellent courses on home organization. I started her program last summer and got most of the way through; I'm confident that returning to those will be a fruitful undertaking.
And one last set of habits: it's easy for us to spend the evening slumped in front of individual screens. In addition to a vespers practice, I'd like to make time to blog earlier so that I'm not dashing off a hasty post with an eye on the ticking clock, and so that I can read aloud to Stella without feeling that I ought to be wielding the Bedtime Shovel instead. I'd like to start getting ready for bed early enough that flossing doesn't feel like a penance suitable for Sisyphus, or skin care like an exercise in futility. It's so much nicer to go to bed early with the rosary finished and a book in hand, rather than rattling off the last decade while calculating the depth of tomorrow's sleep deficit. All of these things are easier for an introvert mom when there is some silence elsewhere in the day, so that's something to contemplate for part 2. Part 2 is mostly going to be about summer fun, but this introvert mom needs her silence in order for fun to happen.
A definite disadvantage to my plan to blog more frequently in 2017-2018 is the uptick in posts saying "LOOK, it's a post and now to SLEEP. It's LATE. THE END."
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