So I find Lent (the period preceding Easter that in the Christian Church is devoted to fasting, abstinence, and penitence in commemoration of Christ’s fasting in the wilderness. In the Western Church, it runs from Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday and so includes forty weekdays) a good time to reflect. I also find it a good time to curb some of my worse habits. This year, I’ve decided to give up Starbucks and Facebook. I did the Facebook portion last year. It actually was very helpful for my overall piece of mind. Not sure if it will help my “writing” career here much, but since no one has paid me yet, I’m not going to stress too much about that.
Starbucks is more to break what has become a bad habit. I don’t need to pay for coffee every morning. Especially since I’m not working right now. I much rather put those funds toward getting healthy. While Starbucks is convenient, it is definitely something I should learn to live without, so away that goes.
I’m curious too if this will get me back on track writing a bit more. I do plan to continue posting here, though I won’t have the reminders posted on Facebook. I may change my mind on that because I follow the old “you can take Sunday’s off during Lent”. I’m not quite sure where growing up I learned about the waiver of having to observe your Lenten “penance” on Sundays. I suspect it is either related to my father being raised by Jesuits whereby he learned a lot about our faith including the loopholes; or if it was my Irish background. I know for example you got a pass on Saint Patrick’s Day too. Of course, my Italian-American husband had never heard of this, but then he isn’t as strict and probably wasn’t looking for loopholes as a kid. Whatever the case, I’m sure when I get to missing Facebook you may find me lurking on Twitter @acme707.
Maybe I’ll even have a paying job by the end of Lent. Wouldn’t that be nice? If you do want to reach me though you can always email me (eww email?) at acme707@pacbell.net. I still have yet to set up my email for this “blog”, but maybe I’ll get to that during my 40-day exercise.
You can always post comments here as well. I will happily share them. I only moderate to weed out the spam-bots I seem to get quite regularly. It will be interesting to see if my readership lags or if really it just bots out there.
Anyway, for those who enjoy Mardi Gras, eat up. I’ve consumed my chocolate today which will hopefully last me for awhile. Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday when I get to observe the lightweight Catholic fast. Two small meals and one big one. I may have to devote a posting just to that. We shall see.
Don’t be a stranger while I’m away from Facebook. I will try to update weekly and always appreciate the feedback.