Lent

I wasn’t raised observing Lent. Several years ago a friend of mine suggested our circle of friends should participate. No one in this circle is particularly religious but we decided we felt we needed a bit of a self-check in certain areas so we all agreed.

This year I’m inspired to participate again. I’ve contemplated it over the last several days and I’ve concluded that for me, Lent is a period of time to deny myself something that I’ve overused or taken for granted.

For me this is normally food. This year I’ve decided to straighten myself out in a few areas I feel I’ve let get out of hand.

I don’t drive through much but lately I’ve been doing it more than I want or need. So no fast food. I’ve also been a bit loose on chocolate. So no chocolate.

One last area is a habit I need to break. I’ve trained my body to crave something sweet immediately after something savory. I, for a very long time now, always grab a sweet after I eat lunch and dinner. A cookie, a pudding cup, an ice cream sandwich, a hunk of chocolate. I feel like Pavlov’s dog. Sometimes I even think about what sweet treat I’m going to get before I even eat the meal. Sometimes the meal is just my justification to get to the sweet treat.

This needs to stop. I’ve decided it is doing me no good. It’s about breaking the habit, not denying myself dessert. So after a meal, I will wait at least one hour to maybe have something sweet. As long as it isn’t chocolate. Those little vanilla Jell-O pudding cups are good!

I bet after 5 minutes I won’t even want something. What are you doing for Lent?