Reclaiming Your Routine After the Holidays
The Christmas season is beautiful—but it’s also busy.
The Christmas season is beautiful—but it’s also busy. Between travel, family gatherings, late nights, special foods, and joyful disruptions to ordinary life, it’s completely normal for your regular habits to slip a bit. Prayer rhythms shift, workout routines loosen, and nutrition gets… well, more festive.
When the decorations come down and the calendar turns toward Ordinary Time, many of us feel the desire for a fresh start. The good news? You don’t need a “perfect” plan or heroic willpower to reclaim your routine. You just need a gentle reset rooted in peace, clarity, and intention.
Here’s how to step back into a sustainable rhythm:
Begin with a Reset, not a Reinvention.
January doesn’t require you to become a brand-new version of yourself. Often, the healthiest thing you can do is return to the habits that were already serving you well. Ask yourself: What did I feel best doing before the holiday season began?
Maybe it was a short morning stretch, praying the Daily Examen before bed, or cooking simple whole-food meals during the week. Start there. Your body and soul remember the patterns that nourish you.
Don’t try to overhaul your life in one week; embrace the slow re-entry.
Anchor yourself with something small (and achievable!)
If you’ve fallen out of all routine, choose one small anchor habit to reestablish, like a 10-minute Pietra Fitness class before the kids wake up, a cup of water before coffee, five minutes of quiet prayer after you light a candle, or a walk after dinner.
These habits re-establish order and remind you that you are capable of showing up consistently. Consistency beats intensity every time.
Move your body in ways that feel good again.
After days of travel, rich meals, and irregular schedules, your body is probably craving gentle, restorative movement.
Start with classes that stretch, awaken, and re-align rather than push you to the edge. Pietra Fitness offers exactly this kind of balance—workouts that strengthen the body while grounding the mind in Scripture and breath. A few sessions can be enough to shake off stiffness and rekindle your motivation.
If you need help finding structure or guidance in building your Fitness routine again, the Pietra Fitness Online Studio offers hundreds of classes ranging from short stretches to full-body strength workouts.
Re-center nutrition with nourishment
Skip the “I need to undo the holidays” mentality. You don’t. Instead, give your body what it’s likely craving now: plenty of water, vegetables with dinner, regular mealtimes, protein at breakfast, and fewer sweets.
Think of yourself as gently guiding your appetite back into order. This is the season of returning to normalcy, not making up for anything.
Rebuild your prayer rhythm with simplicity
Spiritual routines often shift during the holidays, too—sometimes beautifully, sometimes chaotically. To reclaim your prayer rhythm, keep it simple: return to a favorite prayer you neglected, set a specific place in your home where prayer happens, attach prayer to an existing habit (Morning Offering with your first cup of coffee, for example).
And if you feel rusty? Excellent. God loves being welcomed into ordinary life again.
Embrace Ordinary Time’s gift of stability
The Church gives us seasons of feasting and seasons of steady, holy work. Ordinary Time is an invitation to rebuild structure and strengthen virtue through daily faithfulness.
Let this season be your invitation to return to healthy rhythms, show up for yourself in small, steady ways, rediscover peace in routine.
Reclaiming your routine after the holidays is not about erasing the joy of the last few weeks. It’s about returning to the steady, nourishing habits that help you live your vocation well—body, mind, and soul.
Start small. Stay consistent. Give yourself grace. And step into this new season with renewed strength.
