I mentioned on day one of Lent that it seems somewhat silly to give up something when we’ve all given up so much already in the past year. I stated how I was choosing to simply not give up – on hope, joy, and faith, on my friends, family, and myself. And that is my overall goal of Lent this year, to simply keep moving forward intentionally.
I did also give up snacking for Lent, mostly because I haven’t been taking care of myself physically and this seemed as good a time as any to start holding myself more accountable again. I’ve used the pandemic as an excuse for stress-eating whatever I want, whenever I want it. I do give myself grace in this, but I also do still value taking care of my physical health as well.
Unintentionally, I’ve established yearly weight loss and weight gain routines like I’m Christian Bale preparing for his next movie. I’ve thoroughly confused my body’s sense of metabolism and so it takes a lot of discipline to stick with a diet and exercise routine that allows me to lose weight at a healthy pace.
This winter has not helped by any means. It was literally painful to even go outside this week due to the record low temperatures. The pandemic has kept me trapped inside for the most part, and so exercise doesn’t really come easy.
I recently got my first Covid-19 vaccine. I somehow managed to avoid getting Covid so far even with my daughter and wife getting it. I’ve been tested I think a total of six times when I thought I might have been experiencing symptoms. I’ve only ever tested negative.
I’m happy to have received the Pfizer vaccine, as it appears to be the most effective with the virus of all the vaccines that have been approved around the world. I’m not sure how having the two vaccines will change my day to day behaviors now that I’ve grown accustomed to our quarantined, socially-distanced world. But at least I probably won’t be so inside of my own head about any sniffle or sneeze that I have. I want to go out to eat again. I want to go to the local bar that my friend and I typically would visit once a week during this time of year.
This virus has caused me to fast from so much. It’s taken away so many of the things I had no idea could be so easily taken away from me. If things do start moving back to a sense of normal, I wonder how long our appreciation for the things we are currently longing for will also return to being a simple expectation.
I have a fear that we won’t learn much from this past year. It hasn’t really seemed to make us any better as a society. Perhaps it’s even made us worse, or at least highlighted just how selfish we are and how important our capitalistic society is to us.
I feel like we’ve been given an opportunity through an almost mandatory fast of some of the things that we love, and we aren’t learning anything from it. Oh how I hope it’s not true.
Today my friend Jeff, who has already received both vaccines, and I went to TopGolf to as our first “social” activity outside of the house since last February. Almost exactly one year ago he and his wife traveled down to Kansas City with Sarah and me to have a weekend getaway. While we were there we visited the TopGolf there and had a blast. Today was nowhere to the level of what that day was for me last year, but at least it felt like some sort of aftershock of normal. A glimpse back to last year at this time. I hope to experience more and more of these sorts of things as time inches forward.
Stepping Back 