As I’ve written about before, I’m a big fan of crafting New Year's resolutions of all varieties. I’m energized by bucket lists and to-do lists alike, and I find overarching, values-driven goals orienting. I always pick a word for the year, and I often pick a color or symbol to be tied to the next calendar cycle as well. New Year’s goals motivate me, and I have a lot of fun with the process of shaping my vision for the year ahead.

I also have a lot of fun keeping on top of my goals, visions, and check-lists throughout the time between January 1 and December 31. At the end of each month, I get cozy in my bed after the kids are asleep and I pull out my journal, planner, and colored pens. I look to the month ahead and review my annual goals as well as my 26 in 2026 list, and I jot down my priorities, monthly goals, weekly practices, and daily habits for the 30 days ahead. It’s one of my favorite evenings of the month. 

Really! :) 

This system works well to keep me living an intentional life, one in which my time is aligned with my values and what’s most important to me doesn’t slip through the cracks of a full schedule. But even as it works, sometimes I need a little extra-reflection time, a time not just to review my goals for the year and make sure I’m keeping them, but to examine if they’re working in the way I hoped they would in the first place. If they aren’t, I can re-craft them, because sometimes what we thought was important no longer feels so as time passes, and sometimes the circumstances of our lives change in such a way that our primary concerns take a sudden shift. A full calendar year is too much time to pass before creating new goals if something that you thought would work in January is no longer working in June! 

Beyond re-crafting goals, I find that I need to hit the refresh button on my life more than once a year. I need “Dry July” in addition to “Dry January”. I need a no-spend month in the middle of the year as much as in the beginning. I need 30 days of consistent, committed prayer/meditation/exercise/you-name-it, as much in the summer as in the winter. 

Hence: the mid-year reset. 

At some point in the summer (I’m not tied to an exact date, but usually sometime at the beginning), I take all the momentum and energy that January tends to hold for me and give myself the opportunity to hit the re-fresh button.

In terms of physical spaces, this looks like deep cleaning our kitchen, sorting through my closet with a donation bin in hand, and organizing our basement crawl space.

As for relationships, it looks like scheduling coffee or walking dates with the friends whom I’m always meaning to see more often than I usually do, sending some snail mail to a few of my elderly relatives, and making sure to get half an hour of un-interrupted alone time with each of my children. 

For my body, it looks like trying a new exercise class that I think might be able to fit into my weekly routine, revitalizing my efforts to take a daily vitamin, and re-committing to good sleep hygiene (the phone charges AWAY from my bedside table!). 

Here, I want to offer a few extra ideas for a mid-year spiritual reset. Some of these I will try, and others might speak to you. 

Seek the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

Confessing, seeking penance, and receiving absolution are the ultimate refresh for your soul. Find out when your pastor offers open hours (often on a Saturday), or make an appointment with him. If you prefer, take a drive to a neighboring parish after seeking out their Reconciliation offerings online. 

Pray the rosary every day for a week, working your way through all the mysteries. 

Praying the rosary once is great. So is making it a daily habit. And an in between option that I like is praying daily for a full week, immersing yourself consecutively in the mysteries. 

Fast in some capacity. 

Is it just me, or does fasting get overlooked as a transformative spiritual practice outside the season of lent? There are so many ways to fast (giving up solid foods for a day, refraining from snacking between meals for a week, passing on dessert for a month), and all of them have the power to strengthen your relationship with God, cultivate self-discipline, and deepen spiritual awareness. 

Pray a novena. 

You can pray any novena (here’s a website with all kinds of options and support for making it happen), but I especially love this Surrender Novena. “O Jesus, I surrender myself to You, take care of everything!”  Enough said. 

Serve.

Find a way, any way, to take yourself outside of your personal wants and needs. In the words of Jesus: feed the hungry. Clothe the naked. Invite the stranger into your home or heart. Do it because Jesus told you to do it, but also do it because it will re-center you on what’s most important.