40 Lenten Nights
(migrated from my Tripod blog on 11/05/2011)
If there's one thing I learned during Lent, it's not to bite off more than I can chew.
I managed to go 37 days without Internet (3 days short ). This was pretty easy, because, as I said in a previous post, I'd gone without Internet for a year recently and found I could live quite nicely without it. It did take a bit of discipline to keep from checking Facebook or eBay (et cetera) at work during those 37 days, but I managed. Kept it strictly business.
The only drawback was that I missed my online friends and our witty back-and-forth.
I surprised myself with how well I was able to avoid junk food... no pop, no Slurpees, no chips, no chocolate bars, and no donuts for 37 days! This took a fair bit of willpower, as my diet is usually chock full of crap. I managed to eat healthier, but it was a battle the whole time... especially considering I kept (constantly) winning free donuts in Tim Horton's "Roll Up the Rim" contest/promotion. But, I stuck to the plan and feel a great deal better because of it.
So, how is this "biting off more than I can chew", you may ask?
Well, keep your gitch on, I'm getting to that. Don't be so damned impatient!
The biggest challenge I faced during Lent was swearing. I'm well-known for my rather colourful vocabulary liberally salted with rather off-colour words, and trying not to swear was, to me, a Herculean task. My Everest, if you will.
I started out rather gung-ho and ready to exercise the less offensive parts of my vocabulary. Now, if it came down to a mere test of wordplay, I would have made it the whole 40 days, but I had an unforeseen adversary working against me...
My temper.
I managed to last two days before losing it, cursing a (justified) blue streak at a coworker, and it's only gotten worse since then.
Sigh.
Admittedly, the plan was a bit too ambitious given my relative lack of discipline in this regard. While reflecting on my Lenten experiences these last two days, I started thinking about the root causes of my anger and frustrations, the whys and wherefores of my rage, and came up with some interesting answers.
Ones I'll share with you one day soon.
If there's one thing I learned during Lent, it's not to bite off more than I can chew.
I managed to go 37 days without Internet (3 days short ). This was pretty easy, because, as I said in a previous post, I'd gone without Internet for a year recently and found I could live quite nicely without it. It did take a bit of discipline to keep from checking Facebook or eBay (et cetera) at work during those 37 days, but I managed. Kept it strictly business.
The only drawback was that I missed my online friends and our witty back-and-forth.
I surprised myself with how well I was able to avoid junk food... no pop, no Slurpees, no chips, no chocolate bars, and no donuts for 37 days! This took a fair bit of willpower, as my diet is usually chock full of crap. I managed to eat healthier, but it was a battle the whole time... especially considering I kept (constantly) winning free donuts in Tim Horton's "Roll Up the Rim" contest/promotion. But, I stuck to the plan and feel a great deal better because of it.
So, how is this "biting off more than I can chew", you may ask?
Well, keep your gitch on, I'm getting to that. Don't be so damned impatient!
The biggest challenge I faced during Lent was swearing. I'm well-known for my rather colourful vocabulary liberally salted with rather off-colour words, and trying not to swear was, to me, a Herculean task. My Everest, if you will.
I started out rather gung-ho and ready to exercise the less offensive parts of my vocabulary. Now, if it came down to a mere test of wordplay, I would have made it the whole 40 days, but I had an unforeseen adversary working against me...
My temper.
I managed to last two days before losing it, cursing a (justified) blue streak at a coworker, and it's only gotten worse since then.
Sigh.
Admittedly, the plan was a bit too ambitious given my relative lack of discipline in this regard. While reflecting on my Lenten experiences these last two days, I started thinking about the root causes of my anger and frustrations, the whys and wherefores of my rage, and came up with some interesting answers.
Ones I'll share with you one day soon.
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