Well we're about two weeks out from Easter Sunday, and as seems to happen every year, I'm left feeling slightly guilty that I neglected to truly follow the Catholic doctrine and give up something for Lent.
Generally, I try to turn this expectation on its head and simply be a better person for Lent each year, but it's hard to feel that I'm really doing anything when I hear my friends around the lunch table boasting about how they've successfully given up chocolate or social media for an entire 40 days.
"Maybe that'll be me next year," I always think.
Next year still hasn't come yet. In the meantime, here's a list of things that I probably should have given up for Lent in 2018, though it's really too late to implement them before April 1.
1. Staying up past 2 am on weeknights
I always wonder how I manage to conk out by 12:30 or 1 am at the latest during school breaks, yet on normal weeknights I can easily stay up until 2 or 2:30 am doing work and not fully register how late the time is. Every semester I tell myself, "THIS is the year where I finally go to bed no later than 1:30 am on school nights." This resolution has yet to materialize in my life so far. To be fair, usually if I'm up this late it's because I'm actually doing work, not because I'm procrastinating or socializing, but everyone's human and no one is ever as productive as they could be. Hence, my continuous late nights...
2. Hardly ever eating breakfast, except for brunch on the weekends
I've never been a big breakfast person, though I'm well aware that it's the most important meal of the day. I'm just never hungry early in the morning, but I often notice that my stomach starts rumbling during my 11 am classes if I haven't eaten anything. Sometimes eating a measly granola bar will stifle my hunger, but I do hope to one day be one of those "breakfast people" that I've always admired. You know, those people who wake up at 7:30 am every morning and have time to make themselves a breakfast feast containing multiple food groups every morning.
3. Leaving for the bus one minute before it's supposed to arrive, then sprinting for the bus stop every time
Some of this can be attributed to the often-misleading UTS app at UVA that has been leading students astray since, well, whenever it was invented. However, with this knowledge, I recognize that I probably place too much trust in my ability to run quickly while wearing a heavy backpack when I'm timing my trips to the bus stop. A little more foresight would save me many panicked sprints up the street, and the subsequent embarrassment that comes with getting on the bus completely out of breath.
4. Automatically checking my phone every time I step outside to avoid human contact
I don't think I'm purposely trying to avoid acknowledging strangers or acquaintances every time I leave a building, but I have noticed that I seem to instinctively take out my phone every time I walk from place to place. One thing I keep meaning to change every year is to detach myself a bit from my phone, in order to "keep in touch with the outside world" and all that.
5. Falling asleep on my oh-so-comfy couch instead of my bed
To date, I've never actually spent an entire night accidentally snoozing on my $40 Free and For Sale couch, but I've come close. I know that if I'm really super tired, plopping on the couch to try to do work late at night will probably end with me taking a 1 am nap in my living room. Yet, my couch is so comfy that I always seem to tell myself that this won't happen. I clearly do not have very strong will power to resist the temptation of my comfy couch every night.
6. Defaulting to pasta every time I make dinner in my apartment
To be fair, pasta is and always will be my favorite food, and if I could eat it for dinner every night I would. But I do wish that I could be just a little more creative with my weekend apartment dinners and branch out beyond spaghetti with various toppings. However, this kind of creativity involves actual foresight and meal prep, neither of which I thrive on when it comes to cooking for myself.
7. Not studying for tests until maximum two days before the exam
Whenever I have an exam coming up, for any class, I always tell myself, "this is gonna be the week where I actually study on Sunday for my test on Thursday, to get ahead and all." Unfortunately, other work usually gets in the way and I usually end up panicking on Tuesday night that I've done nothing for this Thursday exam, and then actually studying all of Wednesday and Thursday morning for the exam. To be fair, I generally don't find it helpful to study more than a few days in advance for tests, because then I just have to re-study whatever I went over a few days before. But cramming is certainly no fun either.
8. Incorrectly preparing for the weather outdoors
I'm sure this happens to a lot of people, but I find that whenever I think it's going to rain, I get all ready with my rain boots, water-resistant jacket, and umbrella, prepared to face whatever nature has to throw at me. And then it never rains. But if the Weather Channel app happens to list a 0% chance of rain that day, and I dress accordingly, it always seems to drizzle or mist outside. I know that only psychic powers would truly prevent this from happening, but I wish there was some way for me to better anticipate the weather beyond just trusting my weather app.
9. My weekly Chick-Fil-A meals at the Pav
I'm a big believer in treating yo' self, but even I have to admit that my often-weekly meal swipes at Chick-Fil-A are a little too convenient to contribute to a healthy lifestyle. The problem is, many times the food at Newcomb is so unappealing that I forgo my attempts to be healthy in the efforts of just eating something that I know will taste good. Still, perhaps next year for Lent I'll try replacing a few Chick-Fil-A meals with Subway sandwiches.
10. Overusing the words "quirky" and "yikes"
I don't quite know when these two words became regular additions to my vernacular, but I've honestly started annoying myself by how much I use them, however ironically. With regard to "yikes," for whatever reason I've started hearing this word be widely used around Grounds within the past year. I guess I'm not as immune to millennial speech patterns as I thought I was. I tend to pride myself on my varied vocabulary, so this recent realization came as a huge disappointment to me. And definitely for next year, I'm going to try to rid myself of these overused words.
Easter is on April Fool's Day this year, and what an April Fool it would be if I revealed that I actually had, indeed, given up all of these things for Lent this year. It wouldn't be true, of course, but it would be a funny joke. Here's hoping that for next year's Lent, I'll finally commit to making myself a better person by taking tangible actions that hopefully lead to noticeable results.