Day 1 - Looking Back

I'm currently not, nor have ever been Catholic.

Catholics do not hold the patent on lenten traditions and depending on the year I try to sacrifice, in hopes of strengthening my relationship with the Lord. For this year I've decided to give up solid foods.

For 40-Days I'm strictly on liquids. The only things that I'll be chewing is gum and ice. Since this is my sacrifice I make the rules. Soups that come in a ready-to-sip can and shakes thin enough to drink from a straw are the only questionable items that I will indulge in. Thankfully, beer does not require a spoon and drinking it from a straw should be punishable with jail time.

In years past I've given up or attempted to give up: fast food, beer, alcohol in general, soda and cursing. Some years I've done better than others, but as for this year, I'm excited for the challenge. Preparation was simple, tell as many people as I can what I going to do so that I feel obligated to do it.  Generally speaking, this is not an uncommon technique, when people aspire for something they often put him or herself in a position of "no turning back" so that they are self obligated to follow through.  For me, I've used this technique often. A few years back I told everybody that I was going to run a full marathon - eventually people started asking me how training was going and eventually I started to train seriously which pinnacled by me jogging 26.2 miles at a pace slower than Oprah's.  I used this method to decide on a college, then again to transfer from that school. My childhood friends and I would unknowingly use this method most springs; when the lake would thaw but the water was still 45 degrees and we wanted to swim, we'd pee our pants so that we have to jump in.  While these are only a few examples, to be frank, this self-created public obligation has made me a better person over the years.   

Obviously, Day-1 was not fun. Nor do I expect it to be fun to not eat solid foods at any point and time during the 40-Day period. But Day-1 required the curbing of habits.

I enjoy food, all food and at any time. While I nearly always have a Slimfast shake for breakfast and sometimes for lunch, I still consume food. A handful of my boys' dry cereal, the last few bites of Beth's toast, some french fries from a co-works lunch, a snack with my boys when we get home, dinner with Beth, the boy's leftovers, etc. Since I quit having to make weight for wrestling there have been very few circumstances where I didn't eat what I had the opportunity to eat.  So yesterday was a challenge, not physically or really mentally, but routinely.  Often I found myself picking up something to eat just because it was available.  Now when I pick of food I have to stop before it enters my mouth, a willpower that makes me slightly sad when exerted.

The underlining bonus of this, unlike other things I've given up in the past, is the frequency that it brings Jesus to my mind. Not that I've having one spiritual epiphany after another or 24-hours into this excursion have I had any great revelations, but I do think of my Lord every single time I want to eat. So over the course of Day-1, Jesus Christ has crossed my mind more than any other weekday that I can recall. I have not connected the dots as to what I decided to give up food for Lent and will not be left empty, pondering that question, if after 40-Days it is still unknown to me, but for now I will ask, pray and wonder. When I want to eat I think that  Jesus did this without Slimfast.

On a more self-indulgent side of this: At 6:15 AM on Wednesday, March 9th, 2011, I weighed 211 LBS and have 36 waist. I am curious what I will weigh 40 Days later.