Hello, fellow collegiettes! Can you believe that we’re at the end of February now? It only feels like yesterday that I was decorating my room for Christmas and buying presents for loved ones. Once again, winter break flew by faster than Usain Bolt at the London 2012 Olympics. Okay, maybe I’m stretching it a little, but you get my point.
Another thing that seems to have crept from out of nowhere is the Catholic season of Lent. Lent, the forty-day period before Easter Sunday, is traditionally a time where one gives up an unnecessary pleasure in order to prepare for the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. After 12 years of Catholic education, attempting to give up something at Lent is still a struggle for me. Usually, if I’d give up items such as sweets or chocolate, I’d end up only craving them more and give in to temptation.
However, last year, I had a success story!
Last year, I decided to give up eating meat. I allowed myself to still eat fish, for protein, and I didn’t want to give my body a total shock. Though I had great support (I had a vegetarian friend who had recently become vegan), I was convinced that I would fail. I had attempted to be a vegetarian or a pescatarian in the past, outside of the Lenten season, just to see if I could do it. I lasted two weeks! I was convinced that those who lived a vegetarian lifestyle were just born with it and that I was not.
But then, something happened.
After the first few weeks of Lent, my public speaking class was giving presentations on causes that mattered to us. My vegan friend chose the topic of Animal Rights in regards to how animals are treated before they are processed into food. I suppose you could say that my eyes were opened to a horrible cycle that I had never known existed. After learning the conditions that certain animals were living in, I realized that this Lenten promise I had made was not just a challenge for myself but to help the world in general. If abstaining from meat helped end the cruelty of animals, even just a little bit, then my needs didn’t matter. In fact, after three weeks of my no-meat diet, I lost all cravings for meat, and hardly missed it at all.
And you know what? After Lent ended, I never went back to my old, meat-eating habits!
[pagebreak]
Sure, I’ve had some slips here and there, like when it’s disrespectful to not eat a chicken-cabob at a friend’s house or “un-American” (as my family calls it) to not eat turkey at Thanksgiving dinner. But I can tell you right now, that I feel no need to eat meat. And I can also tell you, that another amazing thing I’ve learned is how powerful the mind truly is. If you really put your mind to something, you really can achieve it. Looking back, I feel like the reasons why I had failed at my Lenten attempts is because I never had a true reason to achieve it. When I stopped eating meat, I had a true cause – not just for my own sake, but for something much larger, for something beyond me.
This Lent, I now feel I can do anything. I gave up the one thing I swore I couldn’t live without, and look at me now! Who knows what else I can accomplish when I put my mind to it? That’s why this Lent I’ve officially decided to give up eating anything that is considered “bad”. I will attempt to abstain from any kind of food that doesn’t truly help me or give me nutritional value that I need in order to live my life the best way possible. This includes foods such as: processed foods, milk chocolate, foods that are high in processed sugar and sodium, alcohol, etc.
I truly believe that when you think positively, then positive things will happen. If I put “bad foods” into my body, then I’ll feel “bad” and I won’t be able to be the best person I can be. This Lenten promise is not a “diet”, nor is my main goal to lose weight. This journey is about challenging myself to be the best person I can possibly be. Our bodies are like cars – they can only run best when given the best gas!
But I am human. I like rewarding myself with a treat once in a while. The more we restrain ourselves from eating something, the more likely we are to binge. But who says rewards always have to be unhealthy? Each week as I blog about my Lenten journey, I’ll share smart, healthy, yummy recipes. Remember, this isn’t a diet. Therefore, I am not restraining or limiting myself from anything. I choose to eat whatever I feel is best for me, because I know that I deserve the best.
What goals have you made for your own Lenten journeys? I look forward to where this adventure will take me and to share it with all of you!