In the cold months between Christmas and Easter, thousands upon thousands of Christians grapple with one question, every year, like clockwork: What am I giving up for Lent?

Lent, or Lenten season, is part of the Christian, and more notably, Catholic, theology. It is intended as a time of inward reflection during the weeks in between Jesus’s crucifixion and rise from the grave. As communities, some parishioners observe more strict restrictions—no meat on Fridays, abstinence from alcohol, things in that vein. But individually, it’s expected that each person will come up with something to give up for the holiday. Some use it as a jumping off point to quit smoking or embrace vegetarianism. But me? Well, this year, for Lent-

I’m just giving up.

I have seven coffee mugs and none of them are clean? It’s Lent! Looks like I’ve finally kicked my nasty caffeine habit!

I haven’t done my laundry in weeks and am starting to run out of clean clothes? Hey, it’s Lenten season! I’m mindfully practicing minimalism!

I have three papers and a midterm all on the same day? Well, hey, thanks Lent! College was fun while it lasted, but since you’ve shown up, it looks like, for the sake of my faith, I’ll just be giving that up too.

Lent is the excuse that you have all been waiting for. Those plans you’d really like to cancel? Honey, it’s Lent. At this point, it’s probably worse if you didn’t nix them. Forget about cleaning up your dorm room or taking out the trash. This is Lent! What you need to do is sit down and get to thinking- what are you about? What do you, personally, stand for? The beauty of it is, there’s no road map for this process. You have to get to know yourself, by yourself- and hey, who else is better suited for the job? You’ve lived with yourself your whole life! You know you’re pet peeves and guilty pleasures! You do you!

And if this whole learning yourself thing is spent, innocently, in front of a computer, Netflix open and homework ignored, then that, my friend, is just between you and God.

Amen.