Hi, I have a suggestion for you if you are still thinking about resolutions. It is this: what if you resolve to rest?
I came to the idea of a day of rest v-e-r-y reluctantly. The Church told me I should not do unnecessary work on Sundays, but I was not sure the Church knew how much necessary work there was in my life. I can't remember exactly when I took the plunge, but it was something like 20 years ago. And you guys, it is THE BEST.
On Sundays I never do laundry. I don't clean my house. I only look at my work email in the rarest of circumstances (specifically, if I am on a search committee with a Sunday night dinner scheduled -- a situation that has come up approximately twice in my career). I never grade, or prep lectures, or write for work. All of those things fit into the other parts of my week. Sundays are different.
Perhaps you also grew up reading the Little House books and thinking that their idea of resting on Sunday sounded pretty miserable. I do not propose misery; enough misery comes our way without our seeking it out. After Mass I read books, exercise, knit, garden, make music, do puzzles, cook things that make us happy. Usually in the late afternoon I spend an hour in our Adoration chapel. (I do wash dishes, because I cannot abide waking up to dirty dishes.) This is the Rule for Sundays: does it feel like work? If so, it does not belong on Sunday. Does it feel pleasant and restorative? That is a Sunday kind of thing.
In the years when we had five children at home and I was finishing my doctorate, there were sometimes a lot of things that got squished into Saturdays. But OOOOHHHHH the relief it brought me, to wake up on Sunday morning and know that none of it required my attention for the next 24 hours.
We live in a culture that prizes productivity. There are plenty of people who are telling you that it's January so you should EAT BETTER and WORK OUT HARDER and by the way would you like to bullet-journal your efforts to Do The Most Stuff Ever here in 2022? I mean, hey, I'm a fan of the bullet journal. But I think it's easiest to be productive if you have space in your life where productivity is not expected. Maybe, instead of planning to push harder, you might like to push a little less.
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