3/5/2014 - The Beginning

So today was Ash Wednesday which marks the first day of the season of Lent. I've never really done much for Lent. I've always heard of people giving up dessert or meat or other things and I've tried once or twice (always with some sort of food thing), but it never really felt like it had meaning and I never stuck with it. Sometimes I would joke with my friends and say I was giving up chocolate for Lent (which would be hard for many people, but not for me since I don't like it and wouldn't be eating it anyway). But lately I've been thinking about some of my habits and how I spend my time and I've realized that there are some things that I could change that might make me feel happier, closer to God and my friends, more successful in school, and more satisfied with my life.

Here is the list of things I am going to try to do or not do this Lent. Some of them are pretty small, some of them don't necessarily have anything to do with Lent, but there just some ideas of changes I'd like to implement in my life and see what happens.

• No Facebook
• Rationale: I think we all know how much time we can unknowingly spend on Facebook. It's so easy just to scroll down my news feed forever and ever and then hit refresh a few minutes later and do it again. There are definitely nice things about Facebook like being able to keep somewhat updated with the lives of my friends who I am not able to see regularly, but I decided that it wasn't really a necessary part of my life since I can still communicate with the people I want through other means and that it would be good to take a break from it.
• No Netflix or watching TV shows in general
• Rationale: I signed up for the month-long free trial of Netflix a couple of weeks ago. It is a wonderful way to watch TV shows and movies online legally, but it is also incredibly addictive. I tell myself I'm just going to watch one episode of something as a break from doing homework, and then next thing I know I've watched 3 episodes and it's 11pm and then I have to stay up super late to finish my homework and then I'm tired the next day, etc. So anyways, let's just say that I've watched way too many episodes recently and I don't think it's good for me or my academics.
• Note: I am allowing myself to watch movies if I don't have too much homework/other stuff to do and if it is with other people.
• Read the Bible, journal (via this blog probably), and pray daily
• Rationale: I've always struggled with this part of being a Christian. There are so many things I need and want to do each day, but reading the Bible never seems to be on the top of my list like it should be. So I really want to change that. Prayer is another thing that I don't do as much as I should, so I'm hoping to change that, too. 
• Goal: My Bible has a handy dandy Bible Reading Plan in the back. During Lent I'm hoping to read through the Gospels (following the more chronologically-ordered plan which skips around from book to book). I'll try to post some of my thoughts, favorite verses, prayers and prayer requests up on this blog. Hopefully I'll keep myself accountable and actually do this everyday!
• 40 Days of Happiness
• Before I decided to give up Facebook I noticed that a number of my friends were doing something which I think was called 100 Days of Happiness. Basically they were just pledging to post a picture of something that made them happy each day for 100 days. I thought this was a cool way to make sure not to just be caught up in the bad things in our lives, but also to remember that there are good things in life, too, and to be grateful for what we have. I never got around to trying this before I gave up Facebook, but I still really do want to try this so I'm going to be doing it through this blog. I won't necessarily have pictures everyday (at least not my own since my camera battery just died and I may or may not know where my charger is...), but I will write about at least one thing that made me happy each day. I will try to keep this up at least for the 40 days of Lent and quite possibly I will continue afterwards to do it for the whole 100 days.
• Eat healthier
• Rationale: Calvin's dining halls are not McDonalds, but they don't exactly serve the most healthy food possible either. Now that I'm not living at home where my parents always did a great job of serving me fruit and vegetables, I haven't been as good as I should about eating my fruits and veggies. Too many of my breakfasts consist of one of Calvin's delicious donut/pastry type things that are so abundant and appetizing and I have some form of dessert with nearly every lunch and dinner. Not good.
• Goal: So I'm going to try my hardest to eat some type of fruit and/or vegetable with every meal. Also, I will try to limit the amount of dessert I eat. I haven't decided what my exact limitation will be. Maybe 1 dessert a day to start and then move toward 1 a week? We'll see...
• Exercise more!
• Rationale: I have been involved in sports for almost my whole life and this is the first time that I am not participating in some sport or another. So now that I don't have a mandatory practice for 2 hours a day, it's been a little harder to motivate myself to get up and do some form of exercise. The weather has definitely had something to do with it since I can't do any fun outside activities like playing Ultimate Frisbee right now. But Calvin has a great exercise room, pool, indoor track, etc., so I really have no excuse. I have been climbing at the super great wall here a number of times, but that isn't exactly the cardiovascular exercise that I should be doing.
• Goal: I know that 30 minutes of daily exercise is what I should be aiming for, but I don't think I'll be able to do that, at least not right away. So for now my goal is going to be to try to exercise in some way, shape, or form 4 times a week and one of those days can be climbing.
• Be more proactive about doing my Spanish homework!
• Rationale: This semester I am taking Spanish 370 which is called Advanced Cultural Topics and the topic changes each semester. The topic for this semester is immigration. It is a fascinating class, but there is a LOT of homework, especially reading (in Spanish, of course)! So I've been struggling with completing the homework, basically, and I need to change that because I can't really drop the class and I want to pass. It's a night class and only meets once a week on Tuesdays from 6-9, so it's hard for me to space out the homework and not just leave it all for right before class.
• Goal: I hope to start my Spanish earlier and spread it out over a number of days. I will try not to get distracted and allow myself to take breaks (whether to do other homework, practice my juggling (see below!), go exercise, or something else).

Day 1 of Happiness

• Juggling!
• For a class I'm taking about health education and movement in the elementary classroom we spend the first 5 or so minutes of each class learning how to juggle. It's been a challenge, but I'm definitely improving. It's super fun and a great way to start each class.
• Going for a drive with Alizabeth
• Tonight my friend Alizabeth, one of the freshmen who lives on my floor, and I went for a drive to the library in downtown Grand Rapids to pick up a book I needed for my children's lit class (more on this tomorrow). It was really fun and I loved getting to know her a little better, failing at navigating our way in the library without help (GR public libraries are also way ahead of Chicago Public Libraries and have a cool self-checkout system which is a bit confusing to figure out at first), laughing about my bad parking skills, debating about what kind of lotion to get at CVS, etc. Also, the city is beautiful at night and you can actually see a few stars here, unlike in Chicago.
• Dorm Worship
• Later tonight I went to dorm worship which is held in the basement every Wednesday night. Going to dorm worship is another thing that I hope to do during Lent (and the rest of the semester). I went almost every week last year and loved it but for some reason this was the first time I went this semester. This week the theme was being children of God so we watched VeggieTales; ate goldfish, animal crackers, and fruit snacks; and drank Capri Suns. We watched the Madame Blueberry episode which is definitely one of my favorites. If you haven't seen it, you should watch it! I think it's a wonderful story with a great message and it really fit with some of the changes I'm making and things that I've been thinking about lately. We should always be thankful for what we have. Material things aren't what give us happiness.
  
  Here's one of the great songs which talks about how a thankful heart is a happy heart :)

Bible Reading

Sadly I actually didn't get to this today, but I promise I'll start tomorrow and hopefully I won't be skipping any other days. 

Prayer Requests

• Today I had a test in my science education class and 2 interviews. One interview was for Project Neighborhood (off-campus houses where Calvin students live in intentional community) where I am hoping to live next year. The other was for a position as a program leader working with kids' programs at the nature preserve on Calvin's campus. So I hope that they went well and that I will be content with whatever the results are.
• I'm trying to figure out what I want to do with my life, whether I want to get a minor in addition to my 2 majors, etc. So I am praying that God will give me peace even though I don't have everything figured out but also that he will give me guidance and help me figure out what He wants me to be doing.

Closing Note

So yeah, this is what I'm going to try to keep up over the next weeks leading up to Easter. We'll see how it goes. I'm hoping that by giving up some things like Facebook and watching TV shows that I will have more time to spend doing meaningful things like reading the Bible, spending quality time with friends, and getting exercise instead of being on my computer all the time.

Wish me luck!
~Hannah