As many of you know, fasting time started on Wednesday in the Christian calendar. I may not be a devout believer, but I thought about actually partaking one of the "seven weeks without" "programs" (program is not the right word here, as I am not joining some other people's organized programs but would be doing things on my own). It just means that you give up on certain habits for one to seven weeks, until Easter Sunday. I've read about some school classes doing it - students assign themselves for giving up smoking, or alcohol, or their mobile phones, TV or sweets for some time, just to see how they will be doing without it. It is not necessarily accompanied by any form of religious practice, that is being left to the respective participants, which actually are from several religions in the particular cases of abovementioned school classes. It it more a form of self experiment inspired by the Christian tradition. Seeing I missed the start on Wednesday, I am thinking of six weeks without coffee (tough challenge for me, but I'd like to see if I can do it, and if the effects on me will be positive) and sweets (almost, but not quite as tough as coffee). I am pondering a few other things. Like, two weeks without car or something. (Then, we move... not possible without the vehícles, I am afraid...) I haven't made up my mind. I'd like to know if any of you happen to practice similar things for the next weeks, with or without religious background. And of course wether someone might want to join me (oh, the help of peer pressure...) Maybe we can connect it to some kind of Red Nose thing, where we get friends to give us a certain amount for a good case for each day we manage without our "bad" habit?
I've always had trouble with the discipline of giving up something for Lent, so in the past couple of years I've tried doing something instead - last year for example I made my way through Luke's Gospel a day at a time. This year however, I've given up sweets. It's hardly Earth-shattering, but it's a start and it saves a few pennies in my student budget. Incidentally, a lot of people forget you get Sundays off.
I've never given anything up for Lent, although plenty of people I know do, including non-Christians. In church today, the preacher suggested we look at the suggestions at www.livelent.net (I think that was it) for some positive things to do instead. Like I said in the Resolutions thread we had at New Year, I tend to give things up there and then rather than at a special time - but I do understand that it's a helpful discipline for some people.
Hm. To push the sponsoring idea a little further, my husband had a laughing fit when I suggested I'd give up on coffeine and, for some time, on sweets, and then agreed he'd give 50 cent per day for a local organization that's, roughly translated, named "Support for Grieving Children", helping children which suffered a loss or have been traumatized. If I find a few relatives and friends to go along for the chance to exercise subtle sadism on me, about 40 days might gain me some money. If I also put into the glass the money I would have spent on coffee and sweets, even more so. And if I can pressgang my ma on giving up cigarettes for a week... No. That's totally unrealistic.
**tries to imagine miss "2 cups of coffee please, and another one to go" giving up that black drug** Hmm... good luck husband and kid, I say And good luck to you too Yvonne, I sould give something up, I guess, but what ? maybe MSN and private net at work would be fitting, as I'm starting a new job tomorrow...
Goodluck with the giving up stuff Yvonne (and Kat on the job)... I've never even heard of this tradition to show you how lacking my religious upbringing was... hmmm what would I give up... Well alcohol is my biggest vice that I probably really should cut back on but i love it too much and as my stress levels are set to sky rocket maybe I should find something else.
I've had to give up too much this year to think about volunteering to give up much more. It might be a good thing for me to think about doing something new though. I hadn't thought about that in terms of Lent before. I'll have to think about this.
