Lent

Tuesday, March 24 was Mardi Gras! I almost forgot about it but randomly remembered while I was at work. As I was discussing the purpose of Mardi Gras, and ultimately Ash Wednesday/Lent with my friends at work, we all decided to participate in Lent this year. (Don't know what Lent is? Click here) While I don't believe all the religious practices involved with Lent, I do believe that it can be a time of reflection. A time for you to look at your life and decide what it taking up more time than it possibly should, or what is causing more grief than necessary, or even just what habit you can kick. Similar to New Years Resolutions, I guess. But here is the difference. Lent is 40 days, a new years resolution is supposed to be a permanent change... I choose Lent! ;)

As my co-workers and I continued our Lent conversations, one girl jokingly suggested I give up Facebook for Lent and I instantly laughed away the idea. How on earth could I survive without the ever-increasing, time consuming, love affair that I had formed with Facebook? I honestly didn't think that was possible. I know that sounds completely absurd so let me give you a little history lesson regarding my relationship with Facebook.

I joined Facebook 4 years ago, when it was only open to college students. At that time, you were REQUIRED to have a university email address that had to be verified before you could create your profile. This is not the case today, and essentially half the world is probably part of Facebook. Nevertheless, I continue to spend time with Facebook regardless of how trendy it has become. Facebook has become my social tool... I use it to to throw parties and invite people, I use it to find out what events and parties are happening so I can continue to be social in my never-ending singledom, I use it to keep in touch with the sisters in my ward and to know what is happening in their lives, I used it this last summer to find people from high school which saved me hours of research and awkward phone calls in preparation for our 5 year reunion, I use it to network my wedding business, I use it to communicate with friends and acquaintances, and of course I use it for the picture logging capabilities. Essentially, it has become a necessity by which I stay in contact with everyone I know! So of course I laughed when the suggestion was made to give up Facebook for Lent!

The next few hours of work passed and I continued to stew over this concept. Instead of thinking how ridiculous that suggestion was, I was realizing how ridiculous it was that I didn't think I could give up Facebook! Why should I let some technological feature control MY life? And that was it. I decided to take back my life!

Today is the 4th day of Lent and I have thus far been faithful to my decision. I admit it has been hard. I didn't realize until last Tuesday just how attached I had become. But I believe this change is healthy. I have much more determination to have verbal communication with those I actually care about. I can see how it will improve my life. And my analytical brain is forming theories left and right about my generation and our abilities to communicate. I will of course share them when my "Facebook fast" ends I have time to clarify what I've theorized.

To all, happy Lent!