What Will You Be Giving Up For Lent?

I had a student in Latin school who used to say that his mom tried to give up sarcasm for Lent. It's a noble thought, but one that would require too much sacrifice for me.

Giving up chocolate is not really that much of a sacrifice for yours truly- I'm the kind of person who is more often assaulted with the temptation to purchase pork rinds when I pay for my gas. Giving up caffiene altogether would make it awfully difficult for me to rise at 3:00 every morning to begin my work day. And my wife has hidden my copy of NCAA Football for PlayStation 2, so giving up video games at this point doesn't really require any additional sacrifice.

I initially considered giving up blogging for Lent, but a fast during this penitential season is supposed to build virtue in me, not you, my readership. On secound thought, perhaps a refrain from blogging would build virtue in all involved parties...

At this point, the going idea I have is to give up purchasing any media- meaning no additional books, CDs, or movies for my library. No magazines, newspapers, or even concert tickets. This could help me in a few ways- not only would it increase my resistance to the temptation to blow all of my expendable income frivolously, it would also free me up to fulfill the other legs of the Lenten stool: I could use the limited expendable income that I would usually blow on entertainment in almsgiving, and less noise in my head could serve as an aid toward a less distracted prayer life.

Which leads us to the question: what will you be giving up for Lent? We here at Apoloblogology are interested in the spiritual disciplines of our readership, because we feel that it makes for good water cooler conversation, especially for those of our readers who enjoy having their religious peculiarities leered at in secular workplaces.

Please feel free to share the object of your respective asceticism in the combox below.