What Did You Give Up for Lent?
I did not give up anything lol.
I suppose it would be fun to participate in it because you never know whether or not you’ll stick to it or not. If you did, good for you! If not, well at least you tried, otherwise, you wouldn’t have known what it was like to give it up.
But I prefer to take a different approach. I did not want my willingness (to give up something) die down after 40 days. If there is one temptation we should be getting rid off even temporarily, it would be to give up our ego.
Sounds simple but super hard to do. If Simon Peter had a hard time doing it. But the least we can do is..try:
Matthew 16:21-22
21 From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.
22 Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”
*Peter showed how much he cared for Jesus by saying he did not deserve to be treated that way. He didn’t pause for a second to understand exactly what Jesus is saying.
Matthew 16:23-24
23 Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”
*BUT it seems like he was backslapped for it because he is thinking about “human concerns” (the ego). Jesus did not deserve to be treated the way he was treated but He did not care about His image to the public. He cared less about being right. He cared more about fulfilling the scriptures.
During those 40 days of Lent, Satan kept tempting him to save Himself. Satan is very smart BUT he only cared about short-term benefits. It would’ve been much easier for Jesus to prove Satan wrong by performing a quick miracle rather than to slog through the 40 days.
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.
*Jesus (I think) wants us to deny ourselves (ego) and take up our cross (the struggle we’ll be going through from giving up our ego).
[Side Note] The a-hah moment came from father Yolly’s Sermon.
Among ordinary people (non-religious types), it’s difficult for us to give up our ego because we mistake it for self-worth:
Ego avoids everything that tarnishes our “greatness” towards others and to ourselves.
Self-Esteem is the acceptance of our imperfections – good AND bad.
Yup, totally different.
Now we all have egos.
So I need to correct myself – don’t give up your ego but keep it in check
*Bonus: Here’s a link to Ryan Holiday’s Audio Book “Ego is the Enemy” [FREE]
F* Day
I used Good Friday as my F*ALL Day to relieve myself from burning out.
I’ve been busy playing catch-up at work that I did not have enough (mental) energy to do other things after work – no workout or studying.
Recent podcasts and articles I’ve read about Productivity showed that we shouldn’t only focus on how we spend our time but we should also put an equal amount of importance to our energy. Because really, how do you expect yourself to function at your 100% when you’re tired?
Ok so take a break, sounds easy right? But not for me. I needed to train myself to “fully” take a break *that means, go all out lazy and do things you would consider “wasting time” without feeling guilty.
It’s not easy to get rid of the thought that your “wasting” a day doing absolutely nothing. I could’ve used the time to do all sorts of things that provided more value, right? But if you look at it from a different angle…
When did “resting” to recharge your batteries become a waste of time?
Now I’m not suggesting you take a break every 5 minutes. That’s just you justifying your laziness.
Work hard. Play Rest hard.
Below are the resources I came across that drove this thought:
Trade-Offs
Co-worker: What time did you start today?
Me: 5:30 am
Now, why the hell would I do that?
Well, I get up early anyway, typically around 4 AM. Why?
I like to enjoy my mornings before going to work. I read, drink coffee, read, eat breakfast, catch up with my e-mails, meditate and stare blankly at the wall or table – whatever it is I feel like doing.
Back then, I used to only give myself 30-mins to get ready for work. The result? I’m always in a rush, trying to beat the time, in a constant state of worry: SHOOT! I’M GONNA BE LATE!
My current start time is at 6:30 AM. But due to the amount of work I needed to get done, I decided to trade off my morning routine for an hour worth of focused work. When you’re super early and there’s nobody there to bug you, you tend to get a lot more work done.
Oh, I also need to point out that I could’ve worked an extra hour of overtime the day before. However, I noticed that the later it gets in the day, the quality of my output goes down with it. So what I’m really saying is…
I traded an hour of half-assed work (in the afternoon) for high-quality work (in the morning).
It was a trade-off. But trade-offs also apply in..well, life in general.
You have to give up this, in order to get that due to the limited amount of time you have in your schedule:
- Watch that show late at night vs. Sleep early.
- Cook food to be healthier vs. Fast food because you don’t have time.
- Do a mock-up exam (for my license exam) vs. Workout
- Read or Meditate
- Write or Draw
We may be torn between the two but we still need to make a decision. That decision will tell you what you really value as opposed to what you THOUGHT you value.
A Year Ago This Week
I…
- almost let my anger get the best of me.
- let my ego go out of control.
[Read more about it here]
Goal Update
Side Income
I’m slowly getting back into prepping for my Insurance Brokerage License.
Did 2 Mock-Up Exams this week.
Health
I’m craving for “clean” food.
Clean = dishes made only with a handful of ingredients such as steak, hard boiled eggs, and salad with no dressing.
Yup! Boring dishes. Which is probably why I’m going to start cooking my own food again.
Finance
I already received my tax refund in the mail. And as planned, the refund will go straight to my debts.
I’m also thinking about buying the updated version of I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi to help me fix my finances.
However, I need to remember that I also needed to keep my expenses down.
Buying the book may help me improve my finances but I don’t think it will make a significant change. Why? I still have the old version. Should be good enough for now.
How do you decide when something is a want or a need?
That’s all folks!
Happy Easter.
