Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Revamping Lent

So, I grew up Catholic. Although we certainly weren't strict Catholics...I do recall not eating meat on Fridays during lent. I think we usually had frozen fish sticks and mac and cheese. (Side note: why doesn't fish count?)

I also recall that when I was younger, even my non-Catholic friends gave up something for lent. I'm not sure why...like it was the cool thing to do or something. Since I was a little pansy, I usually made up stupid things in my mind to give up. Things I would have never done anyway.

10 year old CJ: I'm totally giving up dating boys for lent. It should be easy since I don't date and boys have cooties.

Although one year I DID actually give up soda. I think I was a sophomore in high school. I was so damn proud of myself! Too bad that habit didn't stick.

So today, as I was loathing the fact that I have a midterm tomorrow and can't go out and celebrate Mardi Gras tonight (because I'm responsible or something), I started thinking about why exactly we give things up for lent.

I did approximately 0 research, and came to the conclusion that lent should be about bettering yourself. No one gives up GOOD habits for lent, now do they? The Catholic church may disagree...but this is how I see it in my mind.

So this year for lent, I'm just recommitting myself to getting healthy again. I've avoided my twitter account and all the wonderful women at Mamavation because well...I suck. And that's what I do when I feel guilty about something: I avoid it. Because if I ignore something, it will TOTALLY go away. Right? Right.

Now of course, as far as getting healthy goes, that means eating better and exercising more. In a physical sense. I'm also going to focus on my mental health as well...because it's just as important. I'm going to "unplug" more and seize the day. I'm going to make new friends and reconnect with old ones. I may even sing karaoke.

Followers