What To Do For Lent 2015?

One thing I have to remember when I am writing this blog is to keep it current. If it is Christmas talk about Christmas food, if it is Pancake Day talk about pancakes, you get the idea. That led to a desperate attempt to come up with a witty 50 Shades Of… inspired post, or maybe even a Who Killed…? one. Then it occurred to me that I hadn’t even mentioned Lent! The perfect opportunity for people to make a fairly drastic change to one’s lifestyle. It just so happens that giving up something that you may love but know is not great for you can be a great way to get more serious about your health. 

The recent boom in social media has meant that giving up things such as Twitter, Facebook and Snapchat have all become far more popular sacrifices for Lent this year but the top dogs are still chocolate and alcohol. Trust me, if you cut out both of those things and keep the rest of your lifestyle fairly constant you can’t help but wake up in a much healthier state on Easter Sunday.

The nature of Lent is to sacrifice something in our lives. Now obviously it stems from religious beliefs but I don’t see anything wrong with maybe tweaking it a little to suit our cause. The problem with giving something up is that it doesn’t necessarily address all the areas of your life that you may need to. For example you could opt to give chocolate a miss for the next six weeks but if you are having a bottle of wine a couple of nights a week and two or three takeaways then you will barely skim the surface.

So my suggestion is this – for everything that you give up for Lent, replace it with something that will enhance your health and fitness. It really is very simple. So you decide to give up chocolate, that’s great, but now you add maybe 50 or 100 press ups and suddenly Lent is the perfect opportunity to get into shape. Now that is just a basic example but you can tailor it to suit you. Cut out whatever it is that you feel a little bit guilty about and replace it with something you know you are slacking with.

Sacrificing a foodie treat and replacing it with cardio is probably going to be the most common, simply because a lot of us are guilty of indulging in things we shouldn’t and neglecting the odd cardio session. Your possibilities are limitless though. It doesn’t have to be food, I mean your diet might be in fantastic shape already. So maybe jump on the bandwagon a little bit and try to spend a little less time on social media. All I can do is outline the rules and give you a few ideas, ultimately you will know what you should cut out and what you should be stepping up.

As you will know if you are a regular visitor here though, I am not a big lover of deadlines. What would be the point in making an active change that benefits your whole life if on Easter Sunday you just say, “well that was a fun six weeks!”? My point is that you should use Lent as an opportunity to make these changes that you might have been putting off. And if you really can’t stand the change you have made, you always have the option of switching back on Easter Sunday.

Now obviously Lent began two days ago but there is no harm in starting a little late. Or you can just try to incorporate this idea into any the sacrifices you have made. Just remember, for each sacrifice you need a positive replacement!

So good luck with sticking to whatever it is that you have eliminated from your life and all the best for the rest of Lent!