Lent

There are plenty of things I have given up in the past that weren't really huge, things that I knew I could have again eventually or things that maybe I didn't have on a daily basis, like sweets. I really agree about the meaning and reason behind why a lot of Christian faith's "give up" something during this time, many people give there word and don't last 1 week, 1/2 way let alone all the way to the end of Lent, even when I was a kid growing up, we could have whatever we gave up on Sundays. As I was sitting in church on Sunday listening to the priest talk about Lent and sacrifice and keeping your word in a society that is easy to give into peer pressure and go with the crowd it dawned on me that sometimes I think we give up things that we know we can or that we have before, otherwise we have a fear of failing or not sticking to our word. Why it is that we do this I am not certain. Are we really easy to give in to pressure and our own mind somehow telling us it is okay to cheat or go back on our original promise whether it be to our self or someone else? I often times think that it is easy to make up excuses in our head as to why it is okay to slip up, make that mistake, lots of people mess up you just start over again. It goes back to the same principles that I have talked about before. You can promise yourself you will diet starting Monday, you will start exercising for sure, you will read more, spend more time with the ones you love, do something once a month for yourself, call your loved ones more, quit smoking, give up alcohol, candy, sweets, carbs, caffeine or some other crutch you have... and when it doesn't work out, heck no worries you will just do it again... starting Monday.
I think this habit of allowing ourselves to do it again has led us to go against our original word. Take marriage for example, it is such a norm for divorce nowadays. If it isn't working out, no biggie we can get out of it, move on to the next person and try again. This is really sad. I hope that my marriage continues to grow and I am never faced with such a situation. It takes effort and sometimes I think we are too tired in this fast paced world to put much effort into a lot of things that we do.
I have let the priest sermon sink in, it really makes me feel that whatever it is that I give my word on I should definitely strive to stick to it, hold myself accountable, not be picky/choosy when it comes to what I can make myself stick to and eh, what is okay to take back. My word should be my word whether to myself or someone else.
So today I give my word that I will take this Lenten Season to renew my commitment to myself and God.
I will give up coffee (this is going to be a hard one, not only because I wake up for work at 4:30 AM but because I have grown accustom to the taste and the pleasure of drinking my flavored creamer coffee on my hour drive to work.)
I am also throwing in a do, on top of my sacrifice, I will be more patient with myself and not allow things to get to me, things happen beyond my control and the more upset I get about a situation the more negative energy I release.
Hopefully with the combination of both of these things plus my dedication to going to the gym 3-4 days a week will give me a much needed boost in energy to climb from any slumps that may have appeared over the course of the past couple years.
"Everyone who got to where they are had to begin where they were." - Richard Paul Evans