It’s almost Lent. AGAIN.

I know, right?  Like, wasn’t it JUST LENT a few weeks ago?  I remember it with terrifying clarity.  It is a little shocking that it has creeped up on me again.

Normally, I have a game plan set long in advance.  It’s weird, but what I give up for Lent always is a long thought process for me.  I usually have a list of things, I weigh pros and cons… I put an irrational amount of thought into it.  Then, once I’ve settled on what I’m giving up, I put a lot of thought into how I’m going to handle it.

I get a little obsessed with it, actually.  I might take it a smidge too seriously.

But not this year.  I have no freakin’ clue what I’m giving up this year.

As we all know, last year I gave up sugar & artificial sweeteners.  It was hard.  And I don’t think I ever fully recovered from the sugar binge that followed.  I truly believe that what you give up should be something important; something that you know you will miss; something that you know will be a challenge.  If I never ate chocolate (hahaha, funny joke), and then decided to give up chocolate, well, then… what’s the point, right?  That’d be too easy. 

But last year… Last year was almost too hard.

So I’ve been thinking about what I would really really miss if I had to give it up, but that won’t totally destroy my life.  Honestly, right now the one thing I can’t seem to get enough of is hot chocolate.  But I’m not entirely sure I’m prepared to give it up.  I know, that’s ridiculous, since it’s just a small portion of what I gave up last year.  But I’ve come to soooo look forward to my big mugs of hot chocolate lately.  Since getting back on track after Christmas, it is the only indulgence I’ve really permitted myself…

Oh wait.  Another problem I have is dining out.  While I’ve rid my house of the junk food (save the hot chocolate, of course), I haven’t really stopped myself from eating out at restaurants so much.  And I haven’t made the healthiest choices while eating out at restaurants.  I know that removing that from my life would be a challenge – but again, almost too big of a challenge.  There are dates I have circled on my calendar in the upcoming 40 days that will involve dining out, and I don’t want to cancel them.

I know many people who say that you don’t have to give something up for Lent – instead, you can make a vow to DO something instead.  For instance, I could simply take the Lenten coin box they offer us at church and follow the schedule for adding coins to it each day.  But I did that last year in conjunction with the giving up sugar, so isn’t that taking a step back this year if I only do the coin box?

I’m really stumped this year.  I’m just not sure what I’m going to do about it.

One idea that I keep coming back to is to just use the time period of Lent to really focus on getting back down to a weight I’m comfortable at.  I’ve been doing much better the past two weeks at eating healthy (aside from the hot chocolate), and of course I’ve never wavered from my workout schedule, but I’m not seeing the results I’d like to see.  I need to give it more focus and devotion. 

I’ve also been thinking a lot about McDonalds and how I haven’t eaten there for almost two years… sometimes my mouth waters when I think about Big Macs, and I thought if I was successful at reaching my goal weight again during Lent (I’d have to lose about 15 lbs), I’d reward myself with a visit to Mickey D’s.  I’m still not 100% sure if that’s what I’m going with, but it does seem to be the idea I’m leaning towards the most…

Have you given it any thought?  Do you give something up, or do something as a Lenten practice?  What are your plans for Lenten promises this year?