Half Way Over

Can you believe it's already the middle of the month? For me this month is FLYING by! Who am I kidding? The last couple of years have flown by for me. People always told me that time passes even quicker once you have kids. I thought they were crazy or just exaggerating but I'm here to tell you, IT'S TRUE!

So, some of you may know that I jumped on the Lent band wagon and decided to see if I have the discipline enough to let something go for 40 days. Well, it turns out (so far at least) I do! :0) I was originally considering giving up sugar or bread or something like that but after reading a few post on FB about the meaning of lent I didn't think that would be enough or more accurately: the right thing for me to give up.

I am not Catholic and don't really know much about Lent if I'm honest with myself. I know only that you are to give up something for 40 days and something about not eating meat at certain times. LOL For those of you reading this that are Catholic I'm sure you're rolling your eyes at me right now. ;0) To the point: I decided to give something up and after reading some stuff about Lent and looking to Jesus while doing it I figure it's something like a 40 day fast with maybe a few extra rules. With that in mind I dug into my heart to try to find something I could give up that would truly be difficult for me to do. When I did that I realized it was more like Starbucks that was a sacrifice but going even deeper... DRIVE-THRUS!

I know what you're thinking, "drive-thrus?!?!?!?!?!" I've had several people question me about that but here's the thing. By nature, well at least lately it seems, I'm a relatively "lazy" person. Why walk inside when I can just drive up to the window. I wasn't really like that before but with the addition of my little one and my crazy busy schedule I find myself at the drive-thru a lot. Do you know how much effort and energy goes into unloading the baby and walking into Starbucks? Keeping a hold of her while I order, pay, wait for my drink and then pick it up? Then to get her wiggling body and my coffee loaded back into the car without dropping one or the other? It may seem silly but IT AINT EASY! LOL At least not when you can just zip up to the window, order, pay and receive your drink all while the baby is happily playing in her car seat.

Additionally, by making it Drive-thrus rather than just Starbucks it means I'm not hitting up any restaurants for that fast food quick fix. No gas stations for that quick soda or sweat treat. No run to the local establishment for an ice cream sundae. By eliminating drive-thrus I eliminate the ease and convince of lazy behavior.

Some have argued that it's quite stupid because if I really want then all I have to do is get out of my car and walk inside. SO TRUE! But guess what!... I haven't had any of those things. No Starbucks (or any other coffee shop), No fast food, No soda, No ice cream sundaes!

It hasn't been easy. Almost daily I'd say I'm thinking about one of those things and weighing my options. But by simply taking the convenience out of the choice it requires me to ACTUALLY think about what I'm doing. It gives me that extra minute to determine if this is something I really want to take the time, effort and energy to do AND more importantly; it gives me the time to figure out if it's something I really want to consume.

I'm not a fan of denying yourself every one of life's pleasures in an effort to lose weight. But I am a big proponent of at least affording yourself the courtesy of making an informed decision. (ie. looking at the Girl Scout Cookie box, counting the calories and then deciding if you'll eat the whole thing.) Buying on impulse, in the spur of the emotional moment so to speak, hardly ever works out in your favor.

We'll see how this 40 days goes but I'm seriously considering the possibility of giving up Drive-thrus for good. The way I see it so far, only good can come from it.

Would it help you? How often do you find yourself driving-thru for a quick fix? How much money would you save? How often would you talk yourself out of that guilty pleasure?

Just something to think about!
Be blessed!