Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday, and Ash Wednesday: Lent has begun. Now you have 40 days to start back on those resolutions you made at the first of the year. Anything could have happened. You made have over resolved. Your planning might not have been thought out as well as you should have. You weren’t really thinking straight when you thought you could run a marathon with four weeks of training.
I’m always making plans. Of course I have already quit some of my secret projects that were not planned out correctly or were just dumb to begin with. Luckily, some of the projects are going along and will hopefully lead to success this your. There is a still a long way to go, but for now things are going swimmingly. (My friend in England says that all the time.)
Most people try to give up something for lent. They are not going to smoke or they are quitting drinking alcohol. They are going to exercise or something else that could well resemble a New Years Resolution. This is a second chance to right that wrong or correct a poorly thought out resolution. Another good part of doing something during lent is you only have to hang in there 40 days.
Easter Sunday and it is back to your old bad behavior. So far this year I’ve heard some great plans for things to be given up for lent. Think about this. So far people will be giving up wine, mixed drinks, watching television, checking social media on their phones, and in place of those things they are adding exercise, reading and giving to foreign missions.
Those are all noble causes. I did have one friend that said he wasn’t going to quit anything; he was going to add a new vice for the next 40 days and see if he liked it. Imagine that, a teetotaler starting to drink alcohol or start smoking. That might be easier than giving up something.
At least you’re getting a second chance at some of the things you knew you could accomplish at the first of the year. After your pulled hamstring after trying a daily run of 3 miles, you might be able to work in a twenty minute walk each day. It will probably be easy to get in a few cigarettes a day to see if you want to get back into smoking.
My tongue is firmly in my cheek when I say that I might even try to add something different to my secret projects. This time I’ll have the project cut back enough that I will be able to do it without killing myself the first week.
Some of my projects failed because they were too ambitious. A little moderation will help. 40 days might be the perfect amount of time to get to a manageable project that has a better chance of being completed.
If that doesn’t work, I’ll wait until July 4th and try again.
