What can I do without?

I admit, I'm not a super, super religious person.

In other words, I don't spend my Sunday mornings in a church listening to a priest give a sermon. But that doesn't mean I don't believe. I just hold the belief that you don't necessarily have to be in a church each week to believe in God and the other stuff that goes along with religion.

And that's how the rest of my immediate family operates. Yes, I was raised Catholic, attended weekly religion classes, yet my Dad was still firm in his belief that he would never send his children to Catholic school (after he went through it himself) and we didn't necessarily have to spend each Sunday morning in church.

But we still believe. And I still participate in the traditions.

Which brings me to my problem. Today's Ash Wednesday. The beginning of Lent and I still haven't figured out what I'm going to give up for the next 40 days and 40 nights.

Last year I gave up soda. Yes, it was hard. And yes I was successful. I could do it again this year, but I don't drink much soda anymore. Maybe one a day. That doesn't seem like a big sacrifice to me. I could give up sweets or chocolate. But for some reason I've been craving them lately and I think it might be a slight side effect of the medication I'm on to treat the throbbing in my head I suffered in December. If so, I don't want to mess with that. My Mom's decided to give up fast food. I could. But I don't each much of it.

So what should I give up? I could give up the snooze button in the morning. Nah. That isn't a good option. There's always alcohol. But once again, I really don't drink that much so I wouldn't think of it as a big sacrifice.

What about the vending machine at work? Yes, I don't use it everyday, but I have been known to frequent it once or twice a week. It's a bit expensive and if I really need a snack, I could probably come up with better options if I remember to pack something from home. I don't need that bag of Cheetos in the mid-afternoon.

I think that sounds like a good idea to me. No more vending machine food at work for me. Unless of course I come up with something better in the next few hours.