Lent for an Agnostic

I am uncomfortable with religion, for the most part. I'm not uncomfortable around religious people, as long as they don't try and get me to ride their crazy train (kidding! kidding)...in fact, I am absolutely fascinated with what people believe and why they believe it and what interesting variances their religion has from others, and learning about their practices. But when it comes to practices IN practice, I shy away like a skitterish pony from a rotten-looking kid. I don't really know why; it's almost like I feel like it'll taint me or something. I think I need to loosen up a bit.

{This is a really big cross I like to laugh at whenever we drive to Ohio.

It's in Effingham, Illinois. It's an Effing Big Cross.}

It's kind of ironic, because I am completely religious when it comes to things like Christmas, the magic of autumn, feeling my mother's presence, and the love between my husband and I. I'm not churchy religious (obvs), I'm just....traditionalist. I am filled with a glad spirit. I feel like something more is happening other than what my eyes can see.

Anyway, I've decided I'm going to do some different things for Lent this year. I think it's one of Christianity's few good ideas, and even though I'm doing it for the betterment of myself instead of sacrificing for Jesus or whatever, I'm betting not every Christian vows to cut out full-fat milk for forty days just so the Man upstairs will like them better.

I'm not approaching this year's Lent as a 'cut this or that out' endeavor, necessarily. Instead, I'm going to try and reclaim some habits that have fallen by the wayside and that need some renewing.



I've heard it takes 21 days to form a new habit. And I haven't had the time, or the motivation, to adopt nearly ANY of my New Year's Resolutions this last month and a half...so this is a renewal of sorts. And I figure, 40 days isn't that long, right? And by the time it's done, we're into Spring!



1. Drink 8 glasses (that's SIXTY-FOUR OUNCES!!) of water a day. I do this some days, but it's easy to slip and have half my 64-oz. jug of water left over by the time I go to bed.



2. Read one library book a week. This is, of course, a pleasure, but I haven't been making time for it. And I think it's an important part of my days: help keeps me sane, allows me to get lost in another world for a little while...



3. Try the NYTX daily. For awhile I was religious about this, back when the Java applet actually worked on our computer. Now it doesn't, and I don't get to play the timed game against the other subscribers. But I can still work them crosswords in Across Lite, and by gum, I'm-a gonna.



4. Never go to bed with clothes out in the bedroom. (i.e., not hung up, put away, or in the hamper.)

5. Use the Water-Pik EVERY DAMNED NIGHT. And brush TWICE a day.



6. As for exercise....this is tricky. Because I know myself far too well. I almost don't want to put anything in here about it, because I know I'll fail. My life, albeit crazy-busy, is timed out perfectly these days, and I like it:



Mondays: Jeff City job, 7:15-5:45, Stephens work, 5:45-8:45, bed @ 9-9:30.

Tuesdays: Jeff City job, 7:15-5:45, Home to make/eat dinner, Idol 7-9, bed.

Wednesdays: (see Tuesdays)

Thursdays: Jeff City job, 7:15-5:45, Stephens work, 5:45-7:45, home for dinner & Office, bed.

Fridays: Jeff City job, 7:15-5:45, home for dinner, collapsing, Inside Date Night.

Saturdays: Stephens work, 9-5, stop by Dad's/home for dinner, errands, bed.

Sundays: Stephens work, 9-5, stop by Dad's/home for dinner (Saturdays and Sundays often switch between the two), clip coupons from the week, bed.



I just don't see where I could put a half hour of exercise, even around the house, and not go absolutely nuts. I know I need to...my jeans complain daily to remind me. But I don't even have time these days to watch one of my guilty-pleasure shows (and yeah, I would totally exercise while watching them if I could do it in private, like shut myself up in our bedroom, but I'm not comfortable with exercising in front of anyone...I even felt self-conscious on the TreadClimb at the ARC, with totally normal old people all around who didn't care. And I can't watch the DVR'd shows in our bedroom.) Lunch hour is another option, I guess. But the thought of giving up my only free hour, which I usually use to read or play word games, makes me depressed. Jeff City is not exactly the most pleasant town to walk around in, and our "gym area" at work consists of, like, a weight bench and one Nautilus machine.

They do say exercise will improve your mood, though. I don't know. I just don't know.



I should just try it one day, one nice day, to see how it goes. I could walk up to the capitol building and back, and find out once and for all if that big hill will kill me as much as I suspect it would. Maybe that should be my resolve: to just try it once. I could do that. And sneak in 30 minutes here and there when I can.



(I suppose I could also get up at 5:00 every morning and watch a show on the DVR while hopping around. Would the downstairs neighbor hate that, though? More importantly, I would never, ever get up at 5:00 in the morning.)

So I've covered intellectual improvement, home improvement, dental health, and a nudge in the direction of physical fitness. Dietary's the hard one. It's been rough going these days....sometimes, food is the only thing that'll cheer us up! I'm wondering if I should try something like...

7.
Eat at least one salad a week for dinner.
Don't eat either dairy or sugar at least one day a week, all day.
Grilled/baked chicken for dinner at least one day a week.
Only one meal out a week.
Don't buy anything especially indulgent (i.e., doughnuts or Big Reese's Cups).
No fried foods.
No non-diet soda.

It's complicated, I know. But I have to take baby steps!



Okay. Ash Wednesday is the 25th. I'd love to approach that date and have already begun to adopt some of these habits. We'll see...


I think I need a planner for all this planning. I am so bad at keeping up with planners. I really want to be better. Maybe another item should be "keep up with a planner for 40 days."