New Year Goals: Taking a Sabbath

2019 is here and it’s the day when you review where you wanted to be a year ago and where you are now. At the same time, you look at where you want to be in a years’ time. Well, if you’re like me you do because 1^st January is the day where you set your dreams, visions and goals for the coming year.

I always find I manage about half of the things I set out to during the year. That’s something which is not a problem. It’s generally not a list of definite things I set out to achieve, (although there's a few things like that on there), it’s a list of aspirations of what I’d like to do, together with a set of things I know that might be good for me.

Last year one of my biggest and most important goals was to take an actual sabbath (i.e. day of rest) each week, that’s not a day when I do nothing but is a day of rest where I spend time with my husband and we’re not working or studying. I needed to make it a goal because it’s totally out of my comfort zone in many ways. I’m one of these people whose natural approach is to work, or perhaps one of those people whose chosen drug is work (as some who know me might argue).  

So why was it so important, well firstly because it’s biblical and I’m a real believer that God created a rhythm of life which we’ve in many ways lost in our present society. I know that one of my problems is “overdoing it” and finding myself tired out and irritable. This isn’t God’s intention, he wants me to work hard but also be healthy, rest is part of that.

Another reason it was so important was because it meant that I would be properly spending time with my husband, not half-heartedly but fully. We both live busy lives and we know that we need to invest time with each other. We have developed a pattern for our rest time which sees us chilling and catching up with each other, properly. To help this we seek to get out of the house in order to mean that we don’t get caught up with, just one email or that quick finishing off a job. Now, don’t get me wrong I’m not perfect sometimes it doesn’t work and I check my email too often but we’re getting there.

Finally, it’s important because another goal I achieved this year was starting a new programme of academic study alongside my full-time job. This is demanding, and I know if I stand any chance of reaching where I hope to by the year I’m 50 I’m going to be working really hard for four solid years. If I’m going to stand a chance of achieving this goal I need to ensure rest is built in as much as study.

Tips for you if you want to try and make sure you take a sabbath

1.    Work out why you want to...if it’s a goal with a purpose you’ll have more motivation

2.    Be realistic you’re going to have to say no to some other stuff, and not do everything that you might want to…working out your priorities is useful here

3.    Think about how you’re going to fit in what you need to in the other 6 days…. time management is a tool to be used, not a weapon to injure yourself with

4.    Think about how you might use that day of rest to do something or nothing in order to refresh yourself….if you’re list also contains some books you’d like to read or films you’d like to see these can be built in

5.    Budget for this …..but it doesn’t need to cost much. Walks are free, many museums and galleries are free to enter if you don’t want to see special exhibitions and you can do as little as much as you like.

With regard to this last point my husband and I have found it useful to budget in a cheap meal together (one of these meal deal type things in a local pub or going somewhere you can get discount vouchers for). We also pay monthly for a card for the cinema and annually for NationalTrust, Tate Galleries and Historic Palaces membership. This means that the costs of most of what we do that has a cost associated with it is booked in. And of course memberships can be changed from year to year according to how value for money you find them. Fact you’ve paid out already encourages you to go and take time just chilling.

So what are my goals in 2019…..well, I’m not going to share that. The thing is that the list is personal and it’s not something that others need to know the contents of. If you succeed great, if you don’t it’s not a huge problem – nobody knows what’s on the list and so you’ve got no embarrassment if you don’t achieve it. What matters is that you have a set of things to aim for, not a list of must do’s to add more stress to an already stressful life.