Giving it up

So in case you haven’t noticed, Lent is coming.

To me, Mardi Gras embodies the uniquely Christian concept of doing whatever the fuck you want one day and slapping on the mantel of self-righteousness and piety the next.

C’mon, as if God wasn’t looking when you flashed your tits for those beads. As if stuffing your face with punchkies on Fat Tuesday is exempt from that little rule about gluttony.

It’s nuts.

All these Christians, running around like squirrels in October trying to store up food and alcohol and God Knows What to help them make it through the rest of winter.

But hell, laissez les bon temps roulez.
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I went to New Orleans once.

I need to go wash my hands right now, just sitting here thinking of it.

I know, I know. Cajun cuisine, French Quarter fun, beignets, blah blah.

Not for me.

It was a filthy place. With a seemingly requisite pile of puke on every street corner.
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So what are you giving up?

Drinking? Eating? Smoking? All of the above?

How about something new? Ya up for it?

(She thinks: this could go either way. Hedy the Hedonist would tell everyone to give up giving up shit because life is supposed to be lived, goddammit. However, Hedy the Helpful says stick with The Original Plan.)

Ahem.

Think for a minute, why do we do the things we do?

We don’t over-eat because we’re really hungry. I don’t know about you, but it’s usually a social/comfort thing for me.

Why do people smoke? Again, comfort. And some people do it to avoid over-eating, ironically enough. Although how someone could be comforted by sucking on a flaming smelly death stick is beyond me. But hey, it’s your thing and I digress.

Drink too much? Again, hopefully social. But true alcoholics or drug addicts are prolly masking some deep pain or hurt in their lives.

So I think we can agree that most of the things we do to excess are merely symptoms of something else, right?

Still with me?

Here’s my idea for Lent: Go deep. Give up the thing that makes you do the things you do. Think of one behavior that you do that you know might be hurting you. Then think of why you do it, why you really do it.

Wait a minute, Heather. Easy to say, not so easy to do.

Agreed.

That’s why I’m doing it, too.

Remember? This is the year of traveling lightly.

More on that in the next entry.
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There is a difference between knowing the path and walking the path. – Morpheus, The Matrix
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I am reading: work e-mail
I am listening to: Roxy Music – More Than this
And I am: Enthusiastic