Learning to live without the things I love
I read a really interesting article in Maclean's when I was at the dentist the other day.
Mary Carlomagno led a hectic New York life. Reflecting on the Catholic practice of Lent that she participated in as a child (giving up something as proof of your faith), she decided to give up something she loved for one month each during a year, to see the effect it had on her life. She gave up alcohol, shopping, elevators, newspapers, dining out, cellphones, television, taxis, coffee, cursing, chocolate and multi-tasking. She wrote a book about her experience, called Give It Up!: My Year of Learning to Live Better with Less.
This idea really intrigues me. Often I find that I'm spending too much time focusing on material things, or watching rather than doing. So I'm considering doing something similar. I haven't decided on a time frame yet, or even what to give up, but TV/DVDs definitely have to be on the list. I need a computer for work, but surfing the Internet for non-work purposes would be another. I've recently tried to have relatively computer-free weekends, and I enjoy that. Shopping's another one, and I think using the dishwasher should be another, but I know that will be torture for me, because I really don't like washing dishes. I'll probably put chocolate on the list, although I've given it up for Lent 2 or 3 times before, and surprisingly I didn't find it that hard. I'm not sure if I can think of 12 things to give up though! Maybe I'll think of one more and do 6 months instead of a year.
