Ideas of What to Give Up During Lent
By: Doug Wilson
Starting tomorrow Lent begins and people from all around the world will be giving up certain stuff. Have you ever heard a 86 year old woman say she is giving up sex for lent? I have and it was hilarious. More about her another time.
So, what is lent? According to biblegateway.com:
Lent is the span of time in the church calendar that starts with Ash Wednesday and ends with Easter Sunday. Ash Wednesday commemorates the beginning of Jesus’ 40-day fasting and temptation in the desert, and Easter Sunday commemorates Jesus’ resurrection from the grave after his crucifixion.
Lent, then, is generally observed as a time for Christians to reflect, repent, and pray as a way of preparing their hearts for Easter. It is commonly observed by many Christian denominations—Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, and others—although not every Christian church or denomination does so. Because Lent is not officially instituted in Scripture, observing it isn’t in any way a “requirement” of Christianity. However, Christians from many different theological persuasions choose to observe it as a way of focusing their thoughts on Jesus Christ during the Easter season.
Taken from www.biblegateway.com
If you are a Christian or not, I have a fun 40 day challenge for you. Beachbody started this fun 40 Days of Change Sweepstakes and I am signing up. The new year is wasting away, did you know we’re already six weeks into the year? If you started a workout program near January 1st, that means you’re nearing or just past the halfway point! Congratulations!
As I’m on Day 9 of TurboFire myself, I’m guessing that you could use a little motivation to keep you committed to making it all the way through your program. Or, if you’re just starting, something to help you get through those first 40 days. Enter the 40 Days of Change Sweepstakes.
Over the next 40 days, we(Beachbody) encourage you to make a positive change in your life. As we head into spring, it’s a good time to give up what isn’t good for you or start doing something that is good for you. Here are some ideas to get you started:
5 Things to Ditch:
1. Soda – even diet soda.
2. Your desk chair. Try standing more or swap out your desk chair for a stability ball.
3. Eating meat every day. Could you go one day without it? Meatless Monday?
4. Alcohol.
5. Negative self talk – or even negative talk about others.
5 Things to Try:
1. Eating a healthy breakfast every morning.
2. Increasing your fruits or vegetable servings by at least 1 a day.
3. Keeping a gratitude journal and writing down 1 thing each day that you’re grateful for.
4. Paying a compliment or doing something nice for someone else once a day.
5. Getting 8 hours of sleep a night.
To enter the sweepstakes, all you need to do is comment on the MESSAGE BOARD at some point during the contest and tell us what positive change (other than doing your workout) you are incorporating into your life for the next 40 days. At the end of these 40 days, we will randomly choose a winner to receive a 30-day bag of Shakeology. (If you are not a Team Beachbody member, just click here to sign up and then come back to this Message Board to post your answer.)
During these 40 days, we will also be posting new ideas regularly on our Pinterest page, so check it out often! Here’s the link: http://pinterest.com/beachbody/40daysofchange
What change are you going to make for the next 40 days? Mine will be no sodas, Meatless Mondays , Gratitude journal and getting more sleep. Tell me yours below.
