So what was the final list? In random order...
Add
1. Read the Lenten Adventure Email devotional every day.
2. Participate in a "She Reads Truth"
3. Mass on Sundays
4. Random act of kindness
5. Phone call with a family member
6. Running 2 miles in the morning
7. Blogging every other day
8. Brushing my teeth at night
9. Flossing
10. Make the bed in the morning
11. Put away laundry as soon as it's done
12. 3 things I'm thankful for in my notes every night
13. Take out the recycling/trash when it's full
14. Tell someone I love them every day
15. Pen and paper journal for 10 minutes a day
Give Up
1. Driving to work
2. Going out to dinner
3. Cheese
4. Coffee (even decaf…)
5. Close parking spaces
6. Facebook
7. TV shows before bed
8. Saying no to spending time with friends
9. Alcohol (except pre-planned, major events)
10. Snooze on the alarm clock
11. Complaining
12. Candy
13. Leaving dishes on the counter or in the sink
14. Twirling my hair
15. Curse words
16. Clothes/jewelry shopping
17. Non-secular music
18. Going out to lunch
19. Toxic relationships
20. Using my cell phone when I'm waiting
21. All drinks except water
22. Arguing
23. Talking about other people
24. Bread
25. Talking on the phone in the car
Superlatives:
The worst: Giving up TV while I fall asleep
The most dreaded: Alcohol
My favorite: Cheese
The most enlightening: Going to church on Sundays
Biggest fail: Running 2 miles every morning
Biggest success: Giving up Facebook (only because my roommate changed the password on day 1 and gave it back on Easter Sunday) followed by giving up coffee
The one I'll definitely do next year: Secular music (even though 104.7 The Fish is a pretty terrible radio station when it's all you can listen to)
The one I'll never ever give up again: TWIRLING MY HAIR.
Crowd favorite: Close parking spaces
See ya next year, adventure!
Showing posts with label Lenten Adventure. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lenten Adventure. Show all posts
Monday, April 1, 2013
Thursday, March 21, 2013
The kind of explanation behind this whole Lenten Adventure
At the risk of sounding like I'm complaining (I'm not, I promise, just stating the facts), this Lenten Adventure thing has become quite the challenge.
At first it was fun. Fun to draw a slip of paper every day. Fun to challenge myself with giving up things I rely on for comfort or adding in things that will stretch me as a person. And then it started becoming exhausting trying to remember what I could or couldn't do. Justifying to myself why I ate pizza during a girls night I hosted when I had given up cheese. Trying to rationalize with myself as I contemplated riding my bike to work in the freezing temperatures (and in the dark).
But there have been some really pleasant surprises, too. The single most surprising thing to me is that this adventure is more than halfway over and I still haven't had to give up alcohol. I thought surely it'd be the first to go. I'm also surprised at how much I have enjoyed adding church back into my weekly routine. There was a time in the not so distant past that I was a regular 5pm mass attendee. But like other things, it was an easy thing to skip under the pressure of other commitments, and all the sudden I just wasn't going anymore. But now I am, and if I take nothing else away from this experience, I will be thankful that I have rediscovered something that has always been important to me.
It's not easy for me to talk about religion or spirituality. In fact, if you haven't noticed, in discussing this entire Lenten promise, I have avoided the real reason behind it. I think in part it's because I wasn't quite sure myself, and in part it's because I've never been one who is comfortable talking about my faith. I shouldn't say never, because there was that time when I was 18 and stood up in front of 500 strangers to talk about my personal faith journey... but that was a long time ago. Anyway, I digress. My purpose in starting this was to push myself back into a religion that I actually feel pretty strongly about. To force myself out of my comfort zones and into a stronger, deeper relationship with a God I believe in.
The best part is Lent isn't even over yet. I haven't been perfect in all of this, but the further down this path I get, the more I realize that wasn't actually my ultimate goal. My goal was to push myself away from 'earthly' comforts and towards the comfort that can only be found faith and belief. So am I running 2 miles every day? Nope. But have I shut off the TV every night and instead journaled for 10 minutes, focusing my thoughts and intentions on how I can be better, do better, live better? Yup.
And I've stopped using my cell phone while I wait so I can instead take in my surroundings and experience things like striking up conversations with the security in my building, only to find out that one of them works a double shift every Friday just so he can spend all day Saturday with his son. I never would have found that out, or would have appreciated him as much, had I been head down in a game of Fruit Ninja or whatever.
I feel more alert, more aware, and more in control of my path than I have in a long time. All this to say, I encourage all of you to make a concerted effort to find and be the BEST you that you can be. Even though the best me will always be a work in progress, it feels really great to be taking steps forward instead of standing still.
At first it was fun. Fun to draw a slip of paper every day. Fun to challenge myself with giving up things I rely on for comfort or adding in things that will stretch me as a person. And then it started becoming exhausting trying to remember what I could or couldn't do. Justifying to myself why I ate pizza during a girls night I hosted when I had given up cheese. Trying to rationalize with myself as I contemplated riding my bike to work in the freezing temperatures (and in the dark).
But there have been some really pleasant surprises, too. The single most surprising thing to me is that this adventure is more than halfway over and I still haven't had to give up alcohol. I thought surely it'd be the first to go. I'm also surprised at how much I have enjoyed adding church back into my weekly routine. There was a time in the not so distant past that I was a regular 5pm mass attendee. But like other things, it was an easy thing to skip under the pressure of other commitments, and all the sudden I just wasn't going anymore. But now I am, and if I take nothing else away from this experience, I will be thankful that I have rediscovered something that has always been important to me.
It's not easy for me to talk about religion or spirituality. In fact, if you haven't noticed, in discussing this entire Lenten promise, I have avoided the real reason behind it. I think in part it's because I wasn't quite sure myself, and in part it's because I've never been one who is comfortable talking about my faith. I shouldn't say never, because there was that time when I was 18 and stood up in front of 500 strangers to talk about my personal faith journey... but that was a long time ago. Anyway, I digress. My purpose in starting this was to push myself back into a religion that I actually feel pretty strongly about. To force myself out of my comfort zones and into a stronger, deeper relationship with a God I believe in.
The best part is Lent isn't even over yet. I haven't been perfect in all of this, but the further down this path I get, the more I realize that wasn't actually my ultimate goal. My goal was to push myself away from 'earthly' comforts and towards the comfort that can only be found faith and belief. So am I running 2 miles every day? Nope. But have I shut off the TV every night and instead journaled for 10 minutes, focusing my thoughts and intentions on how I can be better, do better, live better? Yup.
And I've stopped using my cell phone while I wait so I can instead take in my surroundings and experience things like striking up conversations with the security in my building, only to find out that one of them works a double shift every Friday just so he can spend all day Saturday with his son. I never would have found that out, or would have appreciated him as much, had I been head down in a game of Fruit Ninja or whatever.
I feel more alert, more aware, and more in control of my path than I have in a long time. All this to say, I encourage all of you to make a concerted effort to find and be the BEST you that you can be. Even though the best me will always be a work in progress, it feels really great to be taking steps forward instead of standing still.
Monday, February 25, 2013
Lenten Adventure, Part 1
Last year when one of my favorite bloggers embarked on a Lenten Adventure, I thought it was the most brilliant idea ever. For the record, I think what I like the most about OFD is that I can relate as a kid who had a teacher for a mom and also as a daughter and also as the kind of mom I want to be. I suspect I'm not exactly target audience, but whatever.
No surprise that I decided to do it for myself this year. Mindee explains far better than I can the intention behind the adventure, but I love the daily email and am excited about the changes I can already see in myself. And it's only been a week!
Some people say that you should 'suffer in silence' during Lent but since when have I done anything silently? I spent the first few days doing a little bit of self-discovery about what was important to me, what habits I really should kick once and for all, and what things I wanted to add into my life but hadn't found a good enough reason to do it.
At the end I'll share the full list but these are the things I've pulled so far:
1. Cheese
2. Facebook
3. Close parking spaces
4. Twirling my hair
5. Driving to work (except when there is >30% chance of rain during commute hours)
6. Toxic relationships
It's only 6 because the first days were spent reflecting. But seriously - those are basically the worst 6 so it's only uphill from here, right? Except secular music. I'll cry when that one gets pulled. Or adding in running 2 miles every morning. I'll be praying for rain EVERY SINGLE DAY because otherwise I'll be running 2 miles and then biking to work. And then when I pull complaining, I will just have to stop writing blog posts about this.
I rode my bike to work this morning. I've been here for an hour and my legs are still quivering. And last night I was laying in bed and I REALLY missed Facebook and my little bedtime routine of checking FB, Twitter, and then Instagram. But instead I went to sleep earlier, and I was well rested today for my 1.5 mile bike ride. Silver lining...
I may be a totally different person in 30 days, but I guess that's the point. You may not get it from this, but I'm reallyfreakingexcited about this and have big plans to stick to it. I wonder how many of these give-ups and add-ins will stay with me long past the Lenten season?
No surprise that I decided to do it for myself this year. Mindee explains far better than I can the intention behind the adventure, but I love the daily email and am excited about the changes I can already see in myself. And it's only been a week!
Some people say that you should 'suffer in silence' during Lent but since when have I done anything silently? I spent the first few days doing a little bit of self-discovery about what was important to me, what habits I really should kick once and for all, and what things I wanted to add into my life but hadn't found a good enough reason to do it.
At the end I'll share the full list but these are the things I've pulled so far:
1. Cheese
2. Facebook
3. Close parking spaces
4. Twirling my hair
5. Driving to work (except when there is >30% chance of rain during commute hours)
6. Toxic relationships
It's only 6 because the first days were spent reflecting. But seriously - those are basically the worst 6 so it's only uphill from here, right? Except secular music. I'll cry when that one gets pulled. Or adding in running 2 miles every morning. I'll be praying for rain EVERY SINGLE DAY because otherwise I'll be running 2 miles and then biking to work. And then when I pull complaining, I will just have to stop writing blog posts about this.
I rode my bike to work this morning. I've been here for an hour and my legs are still quivering. And last night I was laying in bed and I REALLY missed Facebook and my little bedtime routine of checking FB, Twitter, and then Instagram. But instead I went to sleep earlier, and I was well rested today for my 1.5 mile bike ride. Silver lining...
I may be a totally different person in 30 days, but I guess that's the point. You may not get it from this, but I'm reallyfreakingexcited about this and have big plans to stick to it. I wonder how many of these give-ups and add-ins will stay with me long past the Lenten season?
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