Happy Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday, and/or Shrove Tuesday! It’s a day that encourages you to live in excess and overindulge before punishing yourself for the next 40 days. So, happy last day of happiness…I guess?
If that sounds slightly jaded, that’s because it is. Eighteen years as a catholic schoolgirl will do that to you. If that doesn’t sound that jaded, you’re probably a fellow former catholic student.
Past lives aside, the abrupt transition from the “laissez les bon temps rouler” of Mardi Gras to the “les miserables” of Lent can be a bit disorienting. So, for anyone who needs to hear it, this is your reminder.
You do not need to give anything up for Lent. You also do not need to not give anything up for Lent. If that double negative has your head spinning, my point is that for the next 40 days, you can do or not do whatever makes sense for you.
Depriving yourself of anything for an arbitrary amount of time isn’t going automatically make you a better person. Just like allowing yourself the freedom to abstain from abstaining isn’t going to make you a worse person.
You do you and allow others to do the same for themselves.
Be Kind. Be Brave. Stay Awkward.
Onward & Awkward 