I was raised as a Catholic, but I'm not sure I would consider myself a good one.
I went to a private Catholic school from kindergarten to third grade, and if I'm being honest, after that the rest was history. I knew what Lent was, I obviously celebrated Easter, but I never really followed the "rules" like a true Catholic was supposed to during this time. I didn't attempt to give something up for Lent, I still ate meat on Fridays, and I never went to church.
My family didn't stress it, so why should I?
I've never really been a big churchgoer.
My family goes on Christmas Eve every year if we're lucky, and that's about it. But lately, I've been trying to get back in touch with my faith. I went to a mass at my university on Ash Wednesday and I made me feel really good about myself. I finally decided I was going to stick to giving something up for Lent and actually follow through with it. What better way to do that than to give up something that is so disgustingly important to me?
I wish I could say something else prompted me to give up social media for six weeks. I wish I could say I was super happy about the start of this journey/struggle, but as most millennials know, it's not easy to step away from something that is so ingrained in our culture.
Deleting my social media means deleting Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and other weird miscellaneous apps I have that involve social networking. (Yes RIP to all my snap streaks and no I didn't post this link, it was automatic.)
It also means readjusting how I go about my daily life. I know that sounds ridiculous, but as a teenaged college student, social media is a pretty huge part of my life. I am no longer able just "go on my phone" in awkward or uncomfortable social settings. I am no longer able to keep up with conversations revolved around what someone posted on their snapchat story or that person decided to post about today.
Quite honestly, it's perfectly fine with me.
Even though it's only been four days and counting, I don't really miss that part of my world. I already rarely find myself checking for notifications, which is something I always used to do.
Now I am able to go to bed earlier because I'm not up all night on Twitter. I pay more attention in classes because I'm not distracted by anything and everything on my phone. I can have conversations with people without feeling like I need to check my notifications and reply to someone's comment. I'm not stressed about who views my Snapchat stories or likes my pictures on Instagram. And I definitely do not miss my streaks. Those needed to end anyway. Was I going to be 25 and still snap chatting the same old people I barely talk to from high school?
So maybe Lent was a good reason to give up social media. Or maybe any reasons is a good reason. Like I said, I know it has only been a few days, but I 100% project myself lasting the whole 40.
Maybe even longer.
