The Seventh Day of Christmas: Fewer Resolutions

Resolutions make my skin itch. I think I figured out why.

I don’t know about you, but I’m terrible at keeping resolutions. They end up feeling like a form of punishment or setting myself up for failure.

It’s not that I don’t believe in self-improvement. I do. I work on myself all the time. As a parent, for example, I believe it is my responsibility to get over my own traumas to better parent my own child through his. Also, I’m a recovering alcoholic. The 12 Steps are all about getting better.

Perhaps that’s why New Years resolutions are so difficult for me. I’m all spooned out in that regard. I take my meds. I attend meetings. I’m a Type-2 diabetic and have to be vigilant about my diet. I monitor myself daily. Asking more just feels like a fools errand. So, to care for myself at this time of year, I ask less of myself than my neighbors might.

So, my invitation to you this New Year is to count your spoons. Check your bandwidth. Don’t take on more than you must.

Here are my Seven Ongoing “Things” I do to Maintain Health and Resilience

1. Take my meds. I have psychotropics and diabetes meds. I need to take them daily.

2. Be kind…especially to family and friends.

3. Sleep. Regularly.

4. Eat well. Free range, college educated foodstuffs are good for me.

5. Avoid sugars.

6. Spend time with friends. Make friends. Make music with friends.

7. One growing edge: become more handy around the house.

That’s it. That’s all. There’s only one new thing. The rest are habits that I try to keep all the time.

One thing that didn’t make the list is my Franciscan Novitiate and daily prayer. I think of that as part of the spiritual scaffolding that makes the rest possible. Like the 12 Steps, it provides the structure I need to be a good person. You may not need such scaffolding. I do.

Today is the Seventh Day of Christmas and the first Sunday in Christmas. It is also New Year’s Eve. There will be a family slumber party today. We’ll tidy to make that possible. Someone received THREE different train sets for Christmas and they are already taking over the joint.

Y’all enjoy your day. Be excellent to each other.