Lent approaches and I must now make a difficult decision. What to give up for Lent. Since I am evenly torn between my love for the nectar of the gods and my duty to please the booty, I will let you decide.
The choices are :
No caffeine-this entails soda, coffee and chocolate
No sex- this entails time with my lady friend and also manual overides.
Pertinent facts:
A. I am teenage boy
B. I have a steady source of sweet sweet lovin
C. look at my user name
D. Last time I stopped having caffeine I was incapacitated for 2 days
The choice is yours cast your votes and make your comments.
I say give up the caffeine. Not because it’ll be easier, but becayse it’s a good excuse to get yourself to detox. I know how hard it can be to break a caffeine addiction–believe me, with a school bus that picked me up at 6:10 in the morning, I lived off of the stuff.
Additionally, if you are in a serious relationship (or a relationship that involves regular amounts of sex and mutual committment on an emotional level), deciding to give up sex is something that you should at least bring up to the other person beforehand. While, yes, it is your body, your SO has to deal with that body (or lack thereof)–you should inform them of any changes that you may plan to make, so that they may adjust accordingly.
Anyway, go with giving up the caffeine. You might be able to stay away from it your entire life as a result, which is more than I can say for sex.
If you give up caffeine, you also need to cut out a fair number of OTC headache remedies…
Not having grown up particularly religious, I have to ask: What is the spiritual reason for giving something up for lent? Is it to demonstrate your willingness to sacrifice something important to you, or is it just to make you crabby for a month?
Not appear judgemental but what is a nice Catholic boy doing having non-marital sex? Also the idea behind Lent is to improve you spiritually. If you are concerned about your spirituallity, especially in the Catholic sense of it, why would you be having non-marital sex to begin with. Now I don’t want to be harsh but isn’t this a tad hypocritical? Then there is the whole birthcontrol issue. Let’s not open that can of worms here.
Since you put it out for public debate, I would say give up the sex, go to confession, be sincere in your act of contrition, do your pennance, and sin no more. Hey you asked.
FWIW I am giving up booze and meat.
And the caffine. Took me about a week or so to get past the withdrawl. Sex…If I ever have it again I’ll tell you if I missed it.
I’m pretty ignorant of Catholic ways, so please enlighten me.
How do you determine what to give up for Lent? Something you like or do often, or something that’s sinful or not spiritually condoned? Why can’t you just give up stabbing yourself in the eye with an icepick, or eating haggis or something?
Also, and excuse the hijack, but I’ve noticed that teenagers today drink alot of coffee. When I was a teenager in the 70s/80s, my peers did not, generally speaking. That was something old fogies did. Is it the advent of Starbucks and the like, or have the demands on a teenager increased such that caffeine is need to get through the day?
Oh, yeah, to answer the question…Are you kidding? The caffeine! Are you SURE you’re a teenaged boy???
Better question – what exactly does 40 days of deprivation get you, in the end? I’ve never heard any legitimate justification to the notion that there’s some spiritual benefit to giving up some temporal pleasure for the brief period of Lent just to resume its enjoyment once Easter has passed and the need for “holy sacrifice” is apparently subdued for another year. Do you think God is really concerned about your caffeine intake? And if He has an opinion on your engagement in non-marital sex, wouldn’t that opinion be the same whether it was Lent or not?
IOW, if your goal is some spiritual benefit, then you need to make a choice of Lenten observance that has true spiritual significance. But if your goal is simply the self-righteousness which comes with completing some course of self-denial for its own sake, do whatever floats your boat.
For you… why not both? I thought the deal with Lent was to give up something important in your life for 40 days. Obviously from your OP, both play high in your current needs and wants list.
How do you determine what to give up for Lent? Something you like or do often, or something that’s sinful or not spiritually condoned? Why can’t you just give up stabbing yourself in the eye with an icepick, or eating haggis or something?
Ideally it should be a sacrifce. Something you would miss. If you really dig haggis or the icepick thing then yes. As for sinful acts one should refrain from those to begin with.
Better question – what exactly does 40 days of deprivation get you, in the end?
Hopefully a deeper understanding of yourself and your relationship with your deity of choice. The denial makes me aware of how comfortable and routine my life has become. It then focuses me on how I can improve my relationship with the big guy.
But if your goal is simply the self-righteousness which comes with completing some course of self-denial for its own sake,
Then don’t bother as it will serve no perpose. Lent is not about self-righteousness. We are reminded to pray in secret and fast with a cheerful disposition so nobody knows you are doing it. It is a purely personal and spiritual journey.
Oh and breaking you Lenten sacrifice carrys no burden of sin.
Seriously…I’m presbyterian, and I once gave up caffeine, along with any painkillers, whilst in high school. It sucked that I couldn’t take tylenol to get through the withdrawl headaches. The hardest part, though, was that I discovered that the only non-caffeinated beverages I liked were 7up and water. Bleh.
Now, though, I think I would choose to forego sex and keep caffeine. I could make the argument about caffeine being crucial to my survial - yeah, yeah, yeah, I KNOW I should get more than four hours sleep. You try studying for an organic chemistry exam for just a couple hours and see how well you do. But that’s not why.
You have to remember that the whole point of Lent is true deprivation. I mean, really, would you choose a can of coke over sex with your girlfriend? (Rhetorical question, I’m assuming that answer would be no.) You don’t choose over which would be easier to give up; you choose based on which will cause you to feel deprived to the point that you suffer.
That’s why I don’t consciously decide that “I’m going to give up such and such for Lent” anymore - it only led to a feeling of deprivation. Instead, I try to focus on spirituality in some way, whether that be making it to daily Mass whenever possible or giving up my time in a volunteer capacity that’s different from what I normally do.
shrug I haven’t decided yet this year. But if I were the OP, I’d give up sex. Not that I’m getting any, so that’d make it easy to give up.
