I'm Catholic. This means every once in a while I do crazy things like speak Latin or walk around with a cross drawn from ashes on my forehead. Because Lent was last month, I did both of those things, but I also gave up fast-food restaurants. Now that Lent is over, do I feel free knowing that I can eat all the fast food I want from now on?
Meh...
I initially decided to give up fast-food simply because I thought I was eating too much of it. I would go out to McDonald's, Wendy's, or some other deliciously evil establishment for lunch almost every day. Obviously, I was starting to feel fat and since Lent was coming up, I figured I would just use that as an excuse to back off from the bad stuff for a while. By doing this, I figured that by the end of the season, I would desire fast-food less because I had gone so long without it. Also, Lent is pretty much "diet season" for Catholics, so hey.
All in all, I can honestly say, it wasn't all that bad. I seriously don't even feel like I gave up much of anything...
Okay... So there were like two days where I went to Steak and Shake (figuring it didn't count because it's also a sit-down restaurant), and I also had Portillo's...beef...on a Friday. Basically I suck at commitment...and Catholicism. For the most part, I did give up the paper-wrapped hamburgers and greasy fries.
What I did end up staying completely away from is those sugary "coffee" drinks from Starbucks and Caribou Coffee (and yes, I consider those places "fast-food establishments"). On Easter afternoon, I could finally go to Caribou to get my beloved Vanilla White Mocha. As I pulled away from the drive-thru and took the first sip of creamy goodness that I've had in weeks, did I feel euphoria?
Meh...
I did feel slight excitement going into the driveway, but I did not devour my drink within minutes. Let's put it this way - I started my drink at 2 pm. I finished it the next morning by pouring it into a fresh pot of coffee I had just made myself. As it turned out, the sugary goodness I constantly drank every week had lost favor on my taste buds (probably for the better). I'm finding that I'm starting to prefer coffee that tastes more like, well, coffee. Those drinks are nice every once and a while, but I figure I can live with a small (maybe even a "kid's size").
So did my Lent fasting get me where I wanted to be? I'm not sure. I really don't know what I learned from this experience (or lack of experience). I feel that the rituals of Lent should make you think about some aspect of your life in a different way, or it should make you see the world differently. For instance, giving up television for 40 days might cause a person to step back and pay attention to other things that were previously overshadowed by the distractions of the media.
Like last year, my Lenten journey feels slightly unaccomplished. Why do I always "give up" these things that are relatively easy? I was able to say "no more fast-food" because I knew I didn't necessarily need to eat it all the time. I thought about giving up coffee. I just about had a heart attack at the thought. In my mind, I "need" coffee. If I don't have it in the morning, I honestly believe I will fall asleep while driving to work (the crash will happen precisely at the intersection of Naperville and Diehl - it's mapped out in my head!). Obviously, I won't die without caffeine, I once went without it for 7 days (it was supposed to be 14, but you know me). Perhaps one day I'll try it because that's the point of Lent - giving up something that you think you can't, only to find that it wasn't really that important all along.
(Okay, maybe that's not the whole point for Lent, but that's a nice secular thought!)
((I love the parentheses today. Clearly!))
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