For all my Christian readers out there, you are probably aware that yesterday was the first day of Lent.
That means good Catholics like me are giving something up for the next 40 days, and bad Catholics are going to run for president and try to force their idea of how a family should work on every single American. Wait, that’s just one bad Catholic.
Anyway, I need to come up with a way to make my life better over the next 40 days. It’s kinda hard because I’ve already broken quite a few bad habits this year.
- I’m eating better (although not as good as I should)
- I’m working out 6 days a week doing P90X
- I’m finally pulling in some extra money with this website
Being healthy and having some site income were two big goals for me, and I’m kicking some serious butt on those so far. But if I think hard enough, there are plenty of things I could be doing better. For example:
- I could spend less time playing video games on my tablet and/or PS3
- I could eat breakfast every morning instead of just 2-3 times a week
- I could come out with a new music video! (although I don’t feel bad at all for spending last weekend with my Mom and skipping the song I promised you guys)
- I could floss every day, as opposed to my current frequency of every time something is stuck in my teeth
- I could make more of an effort to hang out with my friends. My day job and my blog job take so much time I haven’t seen friends in forever.
I know I’m already supposed to be doing my Lenten sacrifice, but I need some help deciding. Of all the things I’ve listed here, what do you think I should do? Please post your suggestion in the comments.
And while we’re at it, let me know what you will be giving up or changing in the next 40 days. You don’t have to be Catholic or even Christian to spend 40 days making yourself a better person. Maybe you need to make some changes in your finances. Or maybe you just need to address something in your personal life. None of us is perfect. What are you going to do?
photo credit: spaceodissey
Kevin McKee is an entrepreneur, IT guru, and personal finance leader. In addition to his writing, Kevin is the head of IT at Buildingstars, Co-Founder of Padmission, and organizer of Laravel STL. He is also the creator of www.contributetoopensource.com. When he’s not working, Kevin enjoys podcasting about movies and spending time with his wife and four children.
Obviously, giving up something for lent is a very personal decision. But since you opened it up for discussion, I will just say what I am going to do. I am going to try to work less and spend more time with my friends and family. I realized one of the reasons I work so hard is because of my love of and desire for money, which is wrong. I need to put that lower on my list of priorities and put God first, then people, then health, and way down the list is money. I recently read in an article about Twitter this great quote about money. “CEO Dick Costolo says that for Twitter, revenue is like oxygen—’necessary for life, but it’s not the purpose of life.’ ” I want my job to be like that.
That’s a great quote. I think the goal for most of us is to get to the financial point where money is a secondary concern. I know some people aren’t in the position to put money at the very bottom of their list, but I hope we can all at least find a way to put things like family and God above money.
Could not agree more. So convicting!
How is your mom doing?
I think I should point out that there are two Catholic candidates left – Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum. Also, Joe Biden is the first Catholic Vice President… interesting trivia!
My mom is doing well. She got out of the hospital today and will start her chemo next week. JFK is the only catholic president so far.
And Rick Santorum wants to tell you how a family should work a lot more than Newt Gingrich.
My wife and I both agreed to give up snacking between and after meals. That’s tough for me because I’m a grazer. My issue is that the stuff I give up for Lent rarely sticks for long, though it’d be nice if it were more of a catalyst to better habits even after.
I think snacking is alright as long as they are healthy snacks and your meals are smaller. At least that’s what I’ve read. The key to Lenten sacrifices is to make sure you do it for all 40 days. If you can do it for 40 days and it’s something that makes you a better person, then you’ll probably stick with it forever.
Oh, the flossing one is good! I’m going to try that one too… Starting today because I didn’t floss yesterday (of course).
I really suck at flossing, but it’s so important. I’m gonna start doing it more too (mainly because my dentist told me I need to).
I would vote for flossing. A guy I work with is giving up texting. I think that’s pretty bold.
Loved the Santorum dig. As a PA native, I was SO happy have been a part of voting him out of office.
Yeah, I think flossing is going to be the winner.
And I’m sorry you’ve had to deal with Santorum for so long. But to be fair, he’s probably not much worse than the rest of ’em.
I’d go with flossing to get the ball rolling, it’s the easiest one to change. Just get those disposable picks they sell, you can do it at your desk at work (I would only do it if I had privacy) your desk at home, or if you’re good at multitasking, in your car. If you do it in the car have something to dispose of it in because putting it on the seat or in a couple holder is pretty gross.
I work from home a lot so I’m gonna try to do it at my desk when I have time. I’ve also found flossing in the shower is nice. I’ll take any excuse to stay in the shower a few more minutes.
Sorry, I can’t let that intellectually dishonest crack about Santorum pass by unchallenged. You may not like Santorum’s ideas about how to run a family. But what he is most definitely NOT doing is “forcing” those ideas on anyone. He has not and would not propose any laws or regulations depriving anyone of their freedom to run their family and practice their religion as they see fit. That’s what Democrats do.
Rick Santorum is happy to let you do what you want with your family, just as long as you don’t try to make a family with a person of the same gender.
I don’t care that he feels that way; I care that he thinks the federal government has any business marriage in the first place. Why don’t we get the federal government out of the marriage business altogether, both heterosexual and homosexual?
“He has not and would not propose any laws or regulations depriving anyone of their freedom to run their family and practice their religion as they see fit.”
That’s just wrong. He openly supports the Defense of Marriage Act, which prohibits me and my partner from being legally married, as we see fit.
I don’t have many things to give up as far as TV and entertainment goes, since I just don’t watch much TV, but I would love to give up frivolous spending for awhile. I would have to give up eating out in general, which would be good for my wallet.
Yeah, eating out is so expensive. If you can kick that habit you’re gonna be a lot healthier and save tons of money. Good luck!
I think I’m going to ask my wife what bad habit she’d like me to break for 40 days. She’ll probably give me a list!