The new year is a good time for a faith journey. It is time to take a deep breath and relax and refresh your life. With the new year around the corner now is the time to destress. In this episode, we will discuss how our plans sometimes derail us and how to make the most of the new year.

I’m so excited about this episode because I am going to share some ways that won’t break the bank to truly relax and be refreshed as you charge into the new year. In fact, this has helped me so much that I am truly excited about the new year – thank-you Jesus!

Yes, I am a woman of faith and I am so blessed that I am not doing this alone. I recorded an episode over on our sister network – Ultimate Christian Podcast Network, on a New Year’s Faith Journey, and friends it was life-changing for me because I feel that I have a purpose and so do you!

Your purpose is your current walk in life. Are you a wife/mom, a husband/dad? Are you a student/kid? This is your current “job” and everything else will fit into place.

I have many things on my calendar for the new year and I will hit the calendar running! I have a 31-Day Challenge that I am hosting for work at home moms in January. I have several women ministry breakfasts to oversee, in January and February. I am hosting an in-person conference in Tampa, Florida in February. I have my yearly mastermind group in March and April we will visit our college kids and I am presenting at a ministry breakfast in April in Texas! Then, May is my daughter’s graduation. When I look at my calendar I want to skip right over the first six months and look toward a relaxing June, July, and August!

We can’t do that can we parents? We can’t just say, “Yeah, today I don’t feel like cooking or cleaning or dealing with kids!”

So, what do we do? We pray – and we put things into perspective. And I for one as I shared earlier am excited because I am not doing this alone! First, I have you guys to encourage and motivate me – thanks so much for your star ratings on iTunes and other podcast apps – thanks for your kind words via email or social media and thanks for being you and a listener!

So, let’s do this. Are you ready? First, look at your events upcoming – just like I did.

1. What are those unmoving dates? School days, lessons, appointments, etc.
   
2. What are those non-negotiables? The things that we can’t take off our to-do list and put on another’s?
   

Once you have those out of the way you can look at the optional things! Can someone else do the grocery shopping or can you invest in ordering online and picking it up – or having things delivered? What a blessing delivery services can be! Yes, there is a cost involved but for me, it saves me money because I am not impulse shopping and only getting what I need!

One thing that will change in the new year and involves Vintage Homeschool Moms is the new shows. Instead of a new show each week, on some weeks I will be re-launching some of my past podcasts. So, for those of you long-time listeners of Vintage Homeschool Moms – and there are some that have been with me since the beginning, that means you will hear some replays of some favorite shows. I have been recording non-stop for six years and I still feel the Lord has some great things he wants me to share, but some of the previous shows are too good to be buried in the archives.

New Years Relax and Refresh Takes Simplification:

You can do this too!

1. What are some things you can do to give you more time?
   
2. What are the things you don’t want to let go of, but know that you must cut back for the sake of time or your own sanity?
   
3. Look at this list and make a decision. One year during I decided that writing that Christmas letter, taking a family photo and sending out Christmas cards to my list of over one-hundred people, had to get cut way back. I announced on social media that I loved all of my friends but they would not be getting a card! I sent cards to our relatives and placed a focus on relationships and the poor.
   

We can live lives that are joyous by not overtaxing are already taxed systems! What are those things you enjoy but don’t have time for? For me, it was taking a walk and reading. I had not read in years, and currently, I enjoy reading something fun every once in a while. I had to give myself permission! So, friends, this is what I am doing. I am giving you permission to take some time for the things that will help you relax and refresh.

1. An extra long shower or soak in a bath infused with essential oils and salts. Essential oils such as Bergmont (So love it-check it out here) are one of my favorite relaxing oils.
   
2. A facial – there are some inexpensive scrubs you can make yourself or use something store-bought.
   
3. A foot soak. This is so relaxing and you can do this while reading to the kids or even doing school! Be sure to have a towel nearby in case you need to jump out for the unexpected times!
   
4. A foot rub or neck rub. Maybe invest in one of those gadgets or enlist a family member!
   
5. Time to read, to bake or to do the thing that you consider relaxing!
   

Take the time to be in this present moment. I realized after reading an eye-opening book that was centered on faith that I was living in the past and the future. This can weigh us down! We can think of what could of should have happened, or regrets – or we think about the future and worry about things that may or may not happen. Today, people. Today … focus on the now. The kids in front of you that before you blink your eyes will be grown up and in college or adults like mine. My youngest is now nineteen but even that isn’t for long.

So, let’s recap.

1. Look at those things you can’t change. Those unmovable tasks for dates.
   
2. Look at ways to increase your time or delegate or take off your list or arrange it.
   
3. Look at ways to relax – once a week? No each day.
   

This is going to – I promise to change your life. It is today, not tomorrow that we must deal with and today look brighter and brighter to me as I charge into it with the hope that it is going to be the best year. And, I pray this for you as well.

Next month I have two shows especially geared for kids. The first is Refresh and Relax for Kids – I learned recently that kids are so stressed out and many are on medication just for nerves! We will discuss how to encourage our children to recharge and focus and find those ways to destress. And a show on School and the importance of understanding the time and how it will translate into their futures. I will share something that changed my kid’s lives when they were pre-teens and I hope it will help your children as well! Look for these upcoming episodes in 2020.

Take care friends, and I pray you are blessed abundantly in 2020~ please check out my other two podcasts, One More Child Podcast and A Few Minutes With God Podcast. Truly, those are my faith-focused podcasts and they keep me grounded and I hope they help you as well!

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