Lent Times

As many of you know ( hopefully), Lent began last week. While I am not Catholic  by any means, I have chosen to participate in Lent the past couple years. I have made this decision for two reasons. One to make a genuine effort to give up something that distracts me from my relationship with God and Two, to set a goal for myself and feel a sense of accomplishment upon completion. This year I gave up two things and set a few goals for myself.

1. I gave up sweets. I never realized how often and easy it is to eat sweets, especially when they are around all the time! Last year I gave up sweets for Lent and I honestly have to admit that I cheated a few times. I tried really hard to be successful, but there were too many temptations! This year, I made a promise to myself that I would not cheat and I would be successful. I have already been tempted so many times, especially because Valentine's day was one day after lent began. I even decided that I wasn't going to cheat on Sundays. Also, I am classifying sweets as desserts,chocolate,etc, NOT splenda,honey,anything with sugar, which is basically everything. So here's to being 5 days clean....from sweets that is (haha). Here are a few of my favorite "sweets" to satisfy my sweets craving.


Basically all these things contain chocolate!!!!

2. The second thing I am giving up during Lent is Twitter. If you know anything about me, social media is my thing! I am a dedicated user ADDICTED. I deleted the app from all of my devices, in order to keep myself from cheating. LET ME TELL YOU IT HAS BEEN SO HARD!!! I have definitely been tempted already many times, but I have stayed strong!!! You WILL NOT see any tweets from my twitter account @ktarps, until Easter! I hope to remember the value of real conversations and how they deepen relationships. Here's to being 5 days clean.

3. One of my goals for the Lent season, and to hopefully continue after Lent, is to drink the daily recommend amount of water. I normally drink at least a Camelbak full of water, but that is not enough!!! If I just increased my water intake to 2.5 Camelbaks. This is a very attainable goal. Not only will I feel hydrated, but water flushes out so many toxins in the body, creating an overall feeling of being healthy!!!

These are just a few of my goals for the Lent season, in hopes that I can get a brief idea of what it was like for Jesus when he sacrificed his life for us by dying on the cross. In addition to sacrificing up things that I love, I hope to find some relaxation and some feelings of accomplishments after finishing these goals!!!

Here's to being 5 days clean, only 35 left!