Giving Up

So a week ago, the Lenten season began. While it is primarily a 'Catholic season' (for lack of a better term), a lot of people outside of the Catholic religion have taken up some aspects of it, such as 'giving something up' for Lent. Yes, I know in general terms, it's an across the board Christian celebration, but I don't think any specific religion dives into it the way Catholics do... maybe Lutherans... but it seems outside of Catholicism, it's more about the story leading up to Easter Sunday rather than the hard core 'celebration' Catholics participate in. And I can say that - I grew up Catholic.

Maybe it stemmed from that movie, 40 Days and 40 Nights from years back, or maybe that's just when I began noticing other people doing it. In recent years, I've seen Facebook become the target of Lent, with a lot of people giving it up. You are, after all, supposed to give something up that's difficult for you to give up. Facebook can be addictive. So I decided to partake in that this year. I've never been one to give anything up for Lent, just like I don't make New Year's resolutions. But this year, I figured 'why not?'

Facebook, for me, had become both a nice time waster and a thorn in my side. As much as I loved catching up with friends from years past, I also was getting worked up more than I'd like to admit about some people's posts. But I'd keep going back for more because I couldn't go without knowing the latest updates from friends, whether it drove me up a wall or not. Could I force myself off without the Lenten season? Sure. Just like a New Year's resolution, it could be done at any time, giving a little will power and persistence. But the timing just worked out well.

So here I am, a week into it. And you know what... I'm a lot less cranky. Well, okay, that's not the right way to put it. I don't miss it, though, and I find myself a lot less bitter, which would happen if I saw a post I didn't like. It would just fester in me, slowing getting to me more and more each time I saw something similar.

I'm maintaining my social media outbursts on Twitter, still - I follow mostly media sources and such there, not friends (or at least not friends that post a lot). I have to admit, it's kind of refreshing to be limited to 140 characters. No rambling allowed. And I don't have to look at a picture or video unless I want to - it doesn't just pop up in my feed.

Will I go back to Facebook after Easter? Probably. But I'm kind of hoping my time away will allow me to go back on a much more limited basis. I'd love to not feel the need to jump on daily to see what's going on. Or when I do go on, I'd like to not feel the need to page through ALL of the posts since my last visit. Or, better yet, just visit pages of friends I want to see stuff about and not page through the feed at all. We'll see. Time will tell. In the meantime, I'm enjoying a bit of peace in my life.