1) First discipline is to wean myself off caffeine. I live for caffeine but I think it is causing me issues (both sleep and stomach), so I need to take a break from it to see if I am right. This will be my little mortification for 2019. I hope to slowly wean myself off it until Lent starts where I will completely avoid it and then hopefully will continue that avoidance for the rest of the year. My plan is to go from 4 scoops of caff. coffee to 3 caff and 1 decaf for the first week. Then, switch to a 2:2 ratio, then a 3 decaf: 1 caff, and finally to only decaf. Decaf coffee does still have some caffeine in it, so I may try to switch to herbal teas or decaff tea (which, unlike coffee, gets completely decaffeinated in the process). If I get a migraine though, I reserve the right to use caffeine in a medicinal way!
2) Housekeeping help. I feel this semester and summer are the last times when I can instill some common sense discipline into my two youngest kids. Both are planning to go away to college next fall. I have spoiled them mightily in terms of helping out around the house. So, I am going to ask them to step up to the plate when it comes to housekeeping such as helping to clean the kitchen each night, helping with cooking, cleaning bathrooms and vacuuming, that kind of thing. I was better at this with my older three kids. But S proved daunting in this regard and I kind of gave up after that. But to deny kids the capacity to take care of themselves and their belongings really debilitates them. Every time you do some little or big thing to keep order in your life, it helps you feel competent. And also it helps with seeing the consequences of your actions. If you live in a way that you go about strewing a trail of mess behind you, it bleeds over into other things. You don't build a habit of conscientiousness and so you are more forgetful about school assignments and little responsibilities like filling the gas tank or getting the car inspected or remembering to turn off lights when you leave the room or returning library books back on time (or reasonably close to back on time!). If you have a vivid sense that there are daily aspects you have to take care for, you build being conscientious. Conscientious people are competent, considerate and happier because they don't have quite so many little nagging loose ends to grapple with all the time.
3) Healthy habits - I used to have to do stretching exercises every morning (I still do some) just because I woke up feeling so stiff and sore. I'd lie in bed all night with my body aching. I still get twinges now and then but it is no where near like it used to be. Why? I believe, even though it is slow and subtle, the fact that I stopped eating gluten and went on this anti-inflammatory diet, has made all the difference. Not only did I lose a few pounds but my underlying feeling of well-being got a boost. I'm not perfect. I still grapple with low energy and headaches, but I do not have the constant chronic stiffness and achiness I had before for many, many years. That's something! That's why I am going to get R on this diet as well. I have committed myself to making 3 meals a day for him. My focus is going to be food, food, food for 2019. Skipper has been a blessing for me too. I walk a lot more than I used to. And I feel its benefits. I go out and enjoy nature. I watch the sunrise and hear the first bird calls. I wander up and down the paths and streets of our neighborhood every day. I hope to increase everybody's physical activity this year in some way. Getting B to walk the dog every afternoon is so good for her. Making sure she's going on hikes and swing dances is also good for her. She hasn't been involved in theater this year so she's not going to rehearsals where she's practicing dances. She spends way too much time lying on her bed complaining of feeling ill. She needs an enjoyable but a steady, slow increase in physical activity.
4) Prayer Life. This should be first probably! I hope to be more disciplined in terms of regular prayer.
- Pray/read each morning, pretty good at this; could always be better
- Follow the liturgical year, ditto
- Go to a daily Mass once a week (probably Fridays), use to be great at this but have fallen away.
- Go to Holy Hour once a week (probably Wednesdays), I did this occasionally this year and it was wonderful when I did, but I also got lazy about it. Have a bit of a spiritual battle in my inner self going on over this.
- Go to confession 1st Saturday of the month. This last one is a biggie. I used to try to go to confession once a season, but now I really only remember to go two or three times a year. So I am going to attempt once a month. But I HATE going to confession. I feel I don't confess well, I have to work myself out of a mental block with it every.single.time.
5) Attitude! I hope to pursue my duties and my hobbies with gratitude and gusto! Attitude is everything. This includes cooking, cleaning, chauffeuring, watching D, reading, learning to garden, taking care of my pets, my online life of the facebook groups Catholics for Zero Waste and Catholic Relaxed Homeschoolers. I am planning to leave the latter group upon B's graduation. I already feel myself pulled away from it. My involvement with my parish in terms of helping the homeless ministries and the Care for our Common Home ministry and of course the Latin study group I started this past September. And I just need to be present to my family more. I think I've fallen into bad habits. I need to reduce time on the internet as well. I think that will help with attitude a lot.
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