I don't do Lent, but I do keep religious dietary restrictions year-round.
I did in fact largely give up meat aged 16, and I don't miss it at all. Since it's consistent with my principles to consume halal meat, I sometimes do, but it's about once a year and mainly because I have a few friends who really, really pine to eat meat with me, so I indulge them. Giving up fully would hardly be noticeable, and indeed I'm seriously considering giving up fish to be properly vegetarian.
I don't drink coffee; I tried to acquire the taste to fit in with the surrounding culture when I lived in Sweden, and it didn't really take. I got to the point where if it's offered in a situation where refusing or asking for tea instead would be rude, I can tolerate it, but it's not really a pleasant experience.
I put alcohol last because meat and coffee aren't really pleasures for me at all, but I don't think I would find it much of a hardship to give up alcohol either. I rarely drink and when I do it's for the taste rather than the alcohol.
Things I would find it hard to give up: cheese, and dairy products in general, though I don't feel very ethically comfortable about supporting industrial dairy farms. I would really find it hard to live without tea, and I think I'm pretty incapable of giving up the internet.
Yeesh, I didn't even want to bring the internet into it. I was about to claim that I had a really non-addictive personality (have taken up smoking a few times and dropped it again without any pangs, stopped drinking coffee, marijuana sits unsmoked in my sock drawer for years on end, etc), but the internet is a SIGNIFICANT exception to all of that, LJ and twitter particularly. It's a bit like being asked to give up my friends.
I don't think it would be a reasonable expression of asceticism to give up the internet in the sense of being a means of communicating with my friends. But I could imagine giving up randomly surfing around, following links, reading blogs and articles that I find interesting but don't have any personal connection to the authors. That would be hard, because I'm massively addicted, but it might possibly make me a better person or even be spiritually fulfilling. I don't talk about an addiction to socializing with my friends, that's wholly a positive thing.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2011-03-09 02:03 pm (UTC)I did in fact largely give up meat aged 16, and I don't miss it at all. Since it's consistent with my principles to consume halal meat, I sometimes do, but it's about once a year and mainly because I have a few friends who really, really pine to eat meat with me, so I indulge them. Giving up fully would hardly be noticeable, and indeed I'm seriously considering giving up fish to be properly vegetarian.
I don't drink coffee; I tried to acquire the taste to fit in with the surrounding culture when I lived in Sweden, and it didn't really take. I got to the point where if it's offered in a situation where refusing or asking for tea instead would be rude, I can tolerate it, but it's not really a pleasant experience.
I put alcohol last because meat and coffee aren't really pleasures for me at all, but I don't think I would find it much of a hardship to give up alcohol either. I rarely drink and when I do it's for the taste rather than the alcohol.
Things I would find it hard to give up: cheese, and dairy products in general, though I don't feel very ethically comfortable about supporting industrial dairy farms. I would really find it hard to live without tea, and I think I'm pretty incapable of giving up the internet.
no subject
Date: 2011-03-09 03:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-09 03:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-09 06:18 pm (UTC)