Lent

I will say it once and again that I am not as Catholic as so many out there are. I simply do not have that drive to be as Catholic based on the fact that I no longer feel like I should belong to a Catholic church.

Consciously, I will still raise up my hand and give the signal that means, "In the name of The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit," but it's just out of habit. Also, I still believe that if I don't give out the signal in a Catholic church, God will shun me for being a bad Catholic.

But with Lent coming around again, I feel as though it is time to begin the matters of giving up things for it.

One of the usual things that I give up for lent is fast food, chips, soda, and candy. I strive to pull myself forward away from the greasy delicacies and ignore the sweet tooth for forty days. Sadly, I cheat and find loopholes like, "Subway isn't fast food," and, "I can eat this because it isn't fast food."

This year, I want to do that but also so much more.

For one, I spend a lot of time on the internet, just trolling around doing nothing productive on Tumblr, facebook, YouTube, or recently 9gag. Each website has taken over my time and effort to want to work out, or find a good spot to finish reading books that I have on my shelf and whatnot.

So here is my intentions of limiting my internet leisure time. I will not be accessing my facebook, Tumblr, YouTube, or anything social media for the entire day. It isn't until I fall asleep that I will decide to check it. And even then, unless it is important to check it, I will abstain if it means that I need to sleep or do something much more productive.

In other words, I am in charge of deciding whether or not I want to read posts or see feedback or watch videos.

I know that with Youtube it is very often that I will be checking, simply because that is where I normally get my news. So, yeah, I already know I am going to rule out that possibility of abstinence towards it. The rest I feel pretty confident.

Other than quitting the majority of the media cold turkey, I decided to sacrifice all types of meat, such as pork, chicken, and beef. I will not eat anything with meat for these next 40 days.

I will also still hold out on the usual: fast food, chips, soda, and candy.

A lot on my plate, I know. But, I feel as though this challenge that I have presented on myself will better help me get focused on me and what I need to do (or not do) in order to better accomplish and go out this year with a bang. (Bang meaning I am graduating and want to make sure I have an idea what to do once done with school)

Think I can do it?

Are you asking for a challenge?

I was talking to my friend about what I am thinking about giving up for lent. I know I am not a true Catholic at heart, but I know that I like to participate in certain types of events. I told her I was thinking about giving up more than just my routine of fast food, candy, soda, and chips.

"I'm thinking about giving up media devices," I told her. We went to Johnny's Burgers which is a few minutes from our school to devour some much needed burgers that I have been deprived of for a few weeks already. I slipped the last morsel of food into my mouth and didn't even bother savoring it as I pushed the white plate of chili cheese fries in front of me.

"Media?" she said.

"Yeah, like all the media type of things. Internet, Tumblr, Facebook, television, maybe movies. I am thinking of going full on Amish," I told her.

I kept thinking about it and the more that I began thinking about it the more that it actually got me thinking. Can I actually get away with going 40 plus days without any type of media?

I think there can be a way to secularize myself from anything that is considered media. I just don't know how it would go. I know that I would want to dedicate my time to reading more and writing out a ton more things. I think maybe carrying around my camera and whatnot.

I actually never gave it much thought to the whole phone business. Would I be carrying it around with me or would I have to leave it because it is also considered to be technology?

I just think that I focus too much on internet and media, as I can see as I am typing it up in humor writing class instead of actually paying attention.

This whole dependency is what is making me want to decide it more and more to think that this might actually be a good idea. I just need to find the ground rules and identifying the thin line.

Is it weird for me to think that this might actually be a fun idea? Can I actually pull this off?

I think so...