Less Is More (Subtract, Don't Add) - Part I

By Elaine Hall

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28

            On December 31, 2025, viewers across the world watched the celebration in Times Square as Father Time turned the clock to the coming year. A million people with their faces bearing plastic 2026 eyeglasses witnessed the Waterford Crystal time ball dropping at midnight in Manhattan. Skyscrapers reverberated with music and laughter. Then like salt sifting from a Morton’s canister, snowflakes landed on shoulders, noses and tall purple-and-white 2025 Planet Fitness hats as a subtle reminder that New Year’s resolution time was right around the corner.

Many people begin a fresh year promising themselves that this one will be different; the one in which they get healthier, wealthier and wiser. The healthier aspect usually addresses food.

Mom starts by clearing the refrigerator and pantry of the sugary Christmas leftovers. Though Hubs and the kids may rebel, she counters that meat and veggies don’t always need potatoes, bread and/or a dessert. She tunes out the whining of the kids’ complaint that, “There’s nothing to eat in the house” by offering healthy options of fresh fruit, yogurt, breakfast bars and the promise they can still have occasional treats.

Next, they consider rejoining a gym, despite the variety of exercise equipment they used only twice last year though payments for membership amounted to six months. Still, they believe the purchase of an elliptical machine would be just the ticket to get rid of his love handles and whittle down her thighs. They can always find time to exercise at home, right?

Wrong. Instead of signing up at a health club again or maxing out their credit card to buy a treadmill that might end up as a clothes rod, they should simply go  outside. Don’t just drop off your little leaguer at practice twice a week, throw the ball to him in the backyard. Show off your skills from playing third base on the sixth-grade softball team. Your stories that parallel some of his might cement your relationship.

Rather than taking your turn carpooling your future Olympian to the junior high field, walk with her on the track. Being a teenager is tough. She needs someone she trusts before she opens up about her fear of social rejection, if she’s fast enough to qualify for the finals or even how to respond to that boy who smiles at her in Algebra class. Who but Mom should be her sounding board?

Near the top of the resolutions list comes decluttering. All that stuff junking up the garage and overflowing the attic might be worth something. Organizing gurus agree you should remove from your home what you don’t love, don’t wear or don’t use. Have a garage sale. The kids would likely get on board by selling their old clothes and toys and stuffing that cash in their piggy banks. Your sales could loosen the strings of a tight budget. Then box up the remains of the sale items and run -- don’t walk -- to the local charity and donate those too-good-to-throwaway items. The trash man can pick up the rest next Tuesday.

More than just belongings are affected by reorganizing. Do you have toxic relationships or those who bring no joy; just more stress and time consumption? With gentleness and love, eliminate those too.

Do you look forward every week to volunteering? Or do you dread it as you feel no satisfaction that you’re making an impact or providing a much-needed service to someone in need. Ditch the guilt; don’t set unrealistic goals. Say “No” more often than you say “Yes” to requests for your time. Your stress level will lower, your quality of life will improve and your mental – and maybe physical – health could get a boost.

Yet while “Resolutioners” attempt to recreate themselves this year, no one has made plans of how they can obtain healthier minds, emotions and, most importantly, change their focus onto God, family and friends. Nor have they considered that letting go of what weighs them down — financial-related anxiety, unnecessary commitments and lack of time — might achieve greater goals than those on their New Year’s Resolution list.

Tune in next month for Part II of Less Is More (Let Go and Let God).