Lent

It's been awhile since I've updated this new-ish and improved-ish blog of mine, but I have my reasons and they actually go beyond laziness this time. As you may or may not have heard, I gave up "most of" the internet for Lent this year.

I'm breaking that promise early.

When I originally told people back at the beginning of March I was giving up "most of" the internet for Lent, a lot of those people--mainly those who don't know me very well or perhaps think a little too highly of me--seemed to think I was doing it as a spiritually guided practice in discipline. Although I will readily admit I should have practiced a Lenten sacrifice for such a reason,  I didn't; I merely made a promise to give up "most of" the internet for tradition's sake. It is also for tradition's sake that I'm breaking it.

You see, a couple of my friends in Korea had a traditional habit of giving something up for Lent every year and they were always so good at keeping their promises and becoming better people because of it. I found their discipline and dedication inspiring (if not also a teensy bit annoying) and decided to join these obnoxiously self-denying friends of mine in making my own sacrifice for my first Lent in Korea. It was something I had never practiced before and, at the time, I wanted to do it for all of the right reasons (spiritually guided discipline, reflecting upon sacrifices made for me, etc.).

For my first Lenten promise, I decided to give up taking taxis everywhere around my then-city of Busan. And when I say everywhere, I mean everywhere. I was notoriously lazy about walking anywhere back then and I was frequently caught in the act of hailing a cab when I was sometimes only a block or two away from my destination. It was bad. I therefore decided it was time to make a sacrifice for change. (It was a true sacrifice.)

I failed. Terribly.

Exactly two hours after declaring my first Lenten promise, I marched outside and hopped in a cab and rode four city blocks back to my apartment, proudly thinking about all of the ways my new discipline would change me for the better.

The next year when I decided to give up my bad habit of complaining about "stupid stuff" for Lent, I was just as successful (or unsuccessful, depending on how you want to spin it) as I was the previous year.  Perhaps somewhat ironically, I broke my promise that time around by complaining about my lack of discipline. (This happened only an hour into Lent.)

And thus began my tradition of taking on new Lenten challenges (sacrifices?) and breaking them within hours of making them.

This year was a little different, although entirely by accident. I gave up "most of" the internet at the beginning of March and then I simply didn't go back to it. Was it really so easy? I can hardy believe I'm saying this, but yes! After making the decision, I lasted for two or three hours without even thinking about it in the slightest. Before I knew it, two or three days had passed, and then two or three weeks. Today I realized, with a jolt of surprise, pride and a tinge of horror, that I've nearly made it to the six-week mark without peeking at Twitter, People.com, or the blogs I regularly stalk.

Who. Am. I.

I'm considering this a major accomplishment but, let's face it: I'm a little bit of a traditionalist at heart....

So here's to tradition.