Lent – your all new Give Up list

It is February already! While we are still in the afterglow of the Christmas season, it is time to say hello to Lent. One of my personal favorite seasons (weirdo that I am) and along with Lent comes the list of ‘sacrifices’ and ‘abstinences’. While we have become comfortable giving up meat, of late the young crowd (which I still relate myself with, deniers can take a hike) have come up with more innovative ‘give ups’ for Lent.

While I am trying not to completely rip-off my inspiration for this post (thanks Christina Mead!), I am making an attempt to create a ‘give-up’ and ‘take-up’ list closer to the Indian youth context.

So here we go (taking a deep breath and saying a prayer):
Why don’t we try giving-up a few of these:

1. Watching pirated movies
2. Watching pirated TV Shows
3. Listening to pirated songs
4. Basically, that torrent client!
5. Having severe and venomous political debates or any debate for that matter (especially the YouTube comment section ones :P)
6. Using the word ‘Swag’
7. Using bad language
8. Pornography
9. Cracking adult, non-veg, whatever-you-call-them jokes
10. Watching ‘adult’ ( IMO they’re more juvenile!) stand-ups on YouTube
11. Restricting WhatsApp usage (I heard that gasp!)
12. Social media (I heard that one too…)
13. Eating fast food (Sorry Col. Sanders and Ronald)
14. Fighting with parents
15. Fighting with anyone
16. Road rage
17. Bragging about yourself (‘…I lay my pride by my side ’)
18. Being the ‘partayyyy’ person
19. Excessive shopping
20. Watching reality shows
21. Watching the ICC World Cup (okay, I’m kidding… though it doesn’t count if you’re not a cricket fan!)
22. Behaving rudely with rickshaw wallahs, chai wallahs, office boys, rag-pickers, maids, security wallahs, waiters…
23. Not talking to other people about your faith (totally stole this one)

And why don’t we try taking up a few of these:

1. Saying a rosary for our government and country
2. Reaching out to an orphanage, old age home and spending time there
3. Helping out at home
4. Going for daily mass
5. Going for daily sacrament adoration
6. Following traffic rules
7. Wearing a helmet
8. Visiting Catholic.com, Lifeteen.com, ewtn.com and other Catholic websites
9. Picking up an apologetics book
10. Having your own ‘Swachh Bharat’ campaign in your neighborhood
11. Reading about the saints
12. Helping out in your parish
13. Saying ‘Thank you’, ‘Please’ and ‘Sorry’ (Vanilla stuff, but we miss these all the time!)
14. Smiling at the people mentioned in #22 of the ‘give-ups’ (just don’t creep them out!)
15. Praying for the one person who annoys you the most
16. Hugging and saying a few good things to your parents / guardians / siblings every morning

This is by no means an exhaustive list. I am sure there are so many more things that you can add to these lists. Maybe you can let me know some of them by posting them in the comment section below and while you do it, please do go to the original post too. There are a lot of ideas there! But yeah, don’t forget to keep in mind the true spirit of Lent – Reconciliation with our God and removing obstacles that keep us from living that awesome life in Him.

Have a fruitful, blessed and joyful Lent!