Lent

Some things people I know have given up for Lent other than what you've considered: caffeine/coffee, sweet baked goods, television, reading fiction, and candy. Not sure if any of those will work for you, but good luck finding something!

I try and make what I give up for lent a true sacrifice but that is a personal decision because of my religion. I usually give up Starbucks because that is a struggle for me. One year I gave up taking any elevators. My rule though is do not give up anything that can hurt your physical or mental health. I had a friend in college who was borderline under weight and gave up meat for lent but did not know how to do it properly so she lost weight and was under weight and developed GI issues. I also could never give up caffeine totally because if I do not have my morning cup I will pretty much fall asleep while driving or at my desk.

I usually give up meat, one year I gave up all animal products (doing something more similar to what Orthodox Christians do), and if I'm actively dieting I make sure to do something non-food-related so my reasoning doesn't get confused. I've also given up coffee, alcohol, and sweets in various years (or actions, like using the internet recreationally), generally in addition to the no meat thing which is a long-standing practice of mine and not that hard for me anything (re alcohol, I don't drink anymore, so can't do that).

I also always add something in.

I love Lent.

It’s chocolate this year.

BecomingMoreAwesome wrote: »

samiam4114 wrote: »

Last year instead of giving up something, I incorporated saying a rosary a day. Best Lenten season to date

I like this idea. I’m not Catholic anymore, but when I was, a priest I really respected spoke about not treating Lent as a time of punishment but as an opportunity to improve ourselves by adding a healthy, loving, or giving habit.

Edit because it read as though I used to be a priest.

Heh, I read it that way at first, even after the edit (it's clear, I just read wrong). ;-)

For me, I like to do both (almost always introduce some additional prayer practice, although often with the idea of seeing if it's something I will keep up afterwards too), and think of both as ways to improve myself (not punishment at all). With giving something up, sometimes it's about just living a slightly simpler life, plainer life, but also sometimes if I go to grab something or do something and realize, no can't, it's an opportunity to think about why. I alternate between giving up something as more of a discipline or way to mark the period of time (for example, I like having meatless periods of the year and think of it as rooted in tradition) and giving up something I'm struggling with both as a way to work on that and to note that I don't need it as a crutch (the anger one that someone mentioned is a good one there, or the internet or shopping for non-essentials, especially if someone uses those to distract themselves -- spend the time doing something more positive or realizing you don't need the distraction, so on).

Hope that's not too much -- I think it's an interesting topic and interesting to see how others approach it.

There's some great ideas in here. I'm not Catholic but I have grandparents and aunts and uncles who are and so Lent has always been a part of my life as just something I do on my own. Even aside from the religious aspects it feels great to set aside a period of time like this for self improvement and self reflection.

In addition to reading the Bible daily I'm planning to give up diet cokes because I really have started to dislike how addicted I feel, they're probably something like 70% of my fluid intake at this point. I'll be replacing it with unsweet tea (unfortunately too weak willed to give up caffeine COMPLETELY...) but I hope this is a change that will last more than 40 days.