My EquivaLENT

Sometimes I feel like I have the Catholic guilt gene even though I don't think Catholicism runs in my family (I may be wrong here). I guess I have to call mine the Mormon guilt gene even though we don't have a long family history of Mormonism either. Somewhere along the way we picked it up. :) But since I've got a little bit of Catholicism running through my veins, and after all, catholic just means universal--look it up I'm not lying--I feel completely justified in doing Lent as a non-Catholic.

Hence, my EquivaLENT. That's what I'm calling it. It's taken me...counting on fingers...4 days from the time that normal Catholics start Lent to figure out what I'm giving up. It only took staying up too late and chatting on a couch for it to come to me.

I am giving up negativity. Starting now, I am not going to say...I hope I don't regret this...anything negative. And by that I mean things that are unnecessarily critical. Some things are okay: I'm a teacher. I have to correct students when they're wrong. That's not being negative or critical, it's just being a teacher. I'm also in the market for a new-to-me car. But if I don't like something and voice my opinion, that is not being negative. Those are just two examples to help you understand.

But sitting around complaining about life? That's being unnecessarily critical and I'm not allowed to do that. Also, no talking bad about people behind their back. To their face is still okay... :)  (Maybe next year I'll give up sarcasm...but not this year.)

I need your help because I fear that I may have a couple of days of silence before I remember how to be really positive. But I remember that I used to be that kind of person. That's how I got the nickname Sunshine Sarah.

So, on Easter Sunday, which is when EquivaLENT is finished (and real Lent too), I'm hoping that I will be the genuinely happy, positive, upbeat and adorably optimistic person I feel like I used to be. I can't wait to see her again.

p.s. I really hope you enjoy the EquivaLENT play on words as much as I do...just throwing that out. :)