It’s only the first week of January, and already I have a confession to make about my New Year’s resolutions, writes Linda Kavelin-Popov.

Sigh. I just reread the New Year column I wrote last year, only to find that the same issue confronts me once again, even though I’m a year older and meant to be wiser.

The focus of my intentions for 2024 was to gain mastery in the virtue of Moderation – seeking an ideal work/life balance, working less and playing more, ideally too blessed to be stressed. My second guiding virtue was the Angel of Wisdom, who describes herself in Proverbs 8 as “the mistress of discretion, inventor of lucidity of thought.” She is more valuable than rubies, and she provides good advice and sound judgment.

While there has been some small improvement, in all honesty, I realise I am nowhere near the tranquil, peaceful, zen-like being I set out to be. I still have too many priorities, still feel overwhelmed sometimes by projects I willingly take on, utterly forgetful of my age and limitations. As my husband Dan reminds me, I’m “no chicken of Spring”.

I love my work as a mental health (please don’t laugh) volunteer and do tend to keep a gentle schedule most days. It’s the online meetings regarding issues to do with the global Virtues Project, rather massive correspondence, and having more creative projects (which of course I love and find irresistible) that drain my supply of energy.

I’m not the only over-doer around here. Many locals are involved in career, family, planting, a second business, and the church. I could go on. Some mamas older than I am are busy from dawn to midnight and laugh about it as if it’s funny. And perhaps there’s pride in still being able to carry a heavy load at such an advanced age. I do believe I suffer from something like that.

So, today I awoke early with a traffic jam in my head. What should I tackle first? Too much to do and all I really feel like doing on this rainy day is slipping back into bed with a good book.

Instead, I leisurely prepared a good, balanced breakfast of brown bread with Blue Pea Flower tea, a wee slice of cheese, and a large mango. Then I took the traffic jam to God in prayer and asked Him to purify my heart of all that is not His plan for me. I picked up The Good Book and opened to “Be still and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10) Reflecting on my lifelong habit of over-responsibility, I realised that it flies in the face of the fact that true sovereignty belongs to God. God is God and I’m not. I prayed that God would heal my lacks, bringing me to more faith and trust.

My two guiding virtues for this new year are Contentment – with God’s will and pleasure, letting enough be enough, and Creativity – using my gifts to make a difference and completing several creative projects I’ve started with others.

If you, like me, are falling short, shift your intentions more toward letting go and letting God, practice stillness, prayer, and trust that if you seek, if you ask, the door will be opened.