Lent

[lnr]

I wrote this yesterday as (part of) a comment on beckyc's journal (friends-only). I thought I'd reproduce it here for those who don't know Becky.

I'm not Christian, but I do tend to give things up for Lent, even though some people find that contradictory, and occasionally even offensive.

I find it an interesting exercise in willpower, in doing without a luxury for a reasonably long period. I don't think you have to give something up entirely for it to be worth while giving up at all. And having it be in a fixed timeframe makes it more attainable: think SMART. It can also be easier to explain to people why you've given something up, without having to go into long discussions of motivations. And it can often lead to it being easier to have reduced consumption thereafter: I gave up sugar in tea and coffee one lent when I was 11 or 12, and never went back. And periods of drinking no alcohol at all (usually for medical reasons) have meant I drink less now than I used to - although this may partly simply be the fact I'm no longer a student and have to get up and work in the mornings.

This year however I have a specific goal of making sure I can still fit in the bridesmaids dress which was bought in October when my sister's wedding comes round the weekend after easter. I've put on around half a stone or perhaps a bit more since then, and I could really do to shift that. I'm using Lent as a tool to help in that. I don't have the willpower for dieting "properly" at the moment, but Lent is something I've done successfully in the past.

Normally I only give up one or two things, but this year I'm going to be harsh. So I'm giving up:

• alcohol
• junk food

The latter is a very broad category, though I'm not including sandwiches in it. Basically my downfall at the moment is crisps, chocolate, cake or pork pies with my lunch at work, and pizza and chips and such things for dinner in the evening. Cut those out and what I'm left with isn't too unhealthy or fattening. I may allow myself to drink on my sister's hen night, and a glass of bubbly when we move house, but usually I give things up for the entire period from Ash Wednesday to Easter Saturday inclusive.

Comments

[j4.livejournal.com]

I can (sort of) see why Christians might find it odd or uncomfortable to see someone apparently using their rituals without their reasoning (rather like the secular appropriation of Christmas, though of course early Christianity appropriated pagan festivals before that, yada yada); but from a non-Christian point of view I see it as being more like New Year's Resolutions: if it helps your personal motivation to tie a task to that time-period, then great, and if it doesn't, then don't. I wish you success with your goal!

[lnr]

Yeah, I certainly understand why it would be offensive. I certainly don't do it deliberately *to* offend, but I do wonder if I ought to stop some time.

Works better for me than New Years Resolutions do because of the fixed timeframe. But then I could try making my own up, instead of relying on someone elses.

Mind you no-one seems to object to secular pancakes. Mmm pancakes.

[j4.livejournal.com]

I do wonder if I ought to stop some time

Hmmmm. Presumably you'd also have to stop celebrating Easter/Christmas, then?

fixed timeframe

I do try to make my NYRs SMART, and it seems to help. Things like "not buying any CDs until May" were particularly helpful in unblurring the line between impulse-buying and buying things I really want, frex.

I know some people who give up things like alcohol/chocolate for January as a sort of detox after Christmas/New Year. Maybe that would work if you wanted to dissociate it from Lent?

Mmm pancakes

I second that EAT-motion! :-D

[ghoti.livejournal.com]

I think both are equally objectionable. It's not that I
m offended, just that I'm confused, in both cases.

[lnr]

People grow up with traditions, shared with their family, their school, Sunday School, friends, whatever. I find that I often carry on many of those traditions even if they are originally religious in character. Does that make any more sense?

[ghoti.livejournal.com]

I suppose. I'm just the sort of person who sheds off the traditions with the religion - when I was being pagan, I didn't do any Christian stuff. So it's not how I react, even when it's how other people react.

[ghoti.livejournal.com]

Easter Saturday is a slightly odd day to give up on; that's the one at the end of Easter week, that is, the saturday after Easter Sunday. Are you sure that's the one you meant?

[lnr]

Oh, OK no, see you can tell I'm not a Christian. I mean the Saturday immediately before Easter Sunday.

So my sister is getting married on Easter Saturday after all :-)

[ghoti.livejournal.com]

:) I thought that was probably what you meant. My first experience of that was when I worked at Marks & Spencer. In my interview, I said I wasn't prepared to work Good Friday or Holy Saturday, ad they said that was fine, so long as I'd work Easter Saturday, so I said, OK, I'll even work Easter Monday, all the while being confused as to why that saturday was such a big deal. But then I forgot about it, until Holy Week came around, and I left work on the thursday, saying I'd be back, well, not on the monday but after my holiday, and got the reaction 'no, you have to work on saturday, everyone works Easter Saturday'. I boggled, and pointed out that I'd said in my interview that I was not prepared to work holy saturday, but the whole thing suddenly clicked.

They wouldn't believe that I'#d thought shops were shut that day, either. Apparently it's the busiest day of the year, but I didn't know.

[naath.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't have thought that Easter was a huge shopping season... I wonder why that is.

[mair_in_grenderich]

what happened? did you have to work the saturday?

[ghoti.livejournal.com]

In the end I chickened out and pulled a sickie. I should have stood my ground, though; I did give them fair warning, and if they didn't know what I meant, they should have asked.

Mind, they were also the ones who asked how I lived on what they paid me, and wouldn't give me an extra uniform when I had washing problems because of being homeless until someone complained I smelt.

[burkesworks.livejournal.com]

Being the secular humanist beer-guzzling lard mountain that I am, this year I am giving up ROCKET SALAD and RADICCHIO.

[reddragdiva]

Yuh. I find the "don't eat crap" diet does wonders for me.