Post-Lent Results

{Baguette time!! Take me back to Paris, please.}

Just a quick mention on the things I gave up for Lent, since I do believe that I talked about sugar, at least, in a previous post. Unfortunately, I still can't eat bread (with gluten), that was not a Lent fast, but I just think this little boy running with the giant baguette is adorable.

{Snapchat}

The thing I gave up from the beginning of Lent (March 5th), was the smartphone app called Snapchat. In case you don't know--basically you take pictures of yourself or random objects and send these pictures to your Snapchat contacts. The pictures have a lifespan of up to 10 seconds before they disappear forever into the void. I'm just mildly concerned that the cookie monster fills this void, and he's laughing at my mirror selfies...

I was using Snapchat WAY too much, and it seemed like the appropriate thing to give up for Lent. I made it! It honestly was not too hard to delete the app from my phone and just not think about it after the first couple days. It's definitely a bit embarrassing that this is actually something I could give up for Lent as a "sacrifice." But hey, you've got to do what you've got to do.

{Sugar}

I decided to give up sugar about halfway through Lent. This was something that I had considered before, but never really had the wherewithal to go through with. Apparently, the time was right, this April. So, I did not eat any foods with added sugars for three weeks! (Until yesterday, of course...)

 Last year before I went gluten-free, this would have seemed crazy. To give up sugar for even a week would have been a huge mental struggle. However, after having lived without gluten for over eight months, even though I spent almost seventeen years of my life eating food with gluten in it, my mental state has definitely changed. Giving up sugar for three weeks was tough, but not impossible.

Yes, I had a stomach-ache after eating some maple syrup on breakfast foods yesterday. But you will be pleased to hear that I am not back to my chocolate consuming, normal self. 

Did you choose to fast from anything for the Lenten season (or part of it, like I did with sugar)? I'd love to know what you chose!

Xx,

The Struggle is Real

{All day, every day}

Post-Spring Break Struggles. I could definitely write a book on that. Instead, I shall take the next fifteen minutes to ramble. 

Spring break is an amazing week, and I am utterly convinced I could not make it through an eighteen week semester without this one lovely chunk of time in the middle to take a break and decompress. HOWEVER, this is the end of my first week back at school, and I'm still struggling to get back into the swing of things with good study habits. It's kind of like running {for myself, at least, I don't know about all you professional runners out there...}. Once I start running, I like to continue running for the duration of whatever distance I have set myself because if I stop to take a walking break it is excruciatingly difficult to get the motivation to start running again. It's mostly a mental thing, I know. Isn't psychology interesting? 

So, here I am, trying to work up the motivation to run again. I definitely wanted to turn off my alarm this morning and curl back into my fluffy blankets without giving a thought to the quiz on Linear approximations, Differentials, and Hyperbolic functions, I had in calculus at 9am. Alas, I really do care about my grades, so I rolled out of bed, did some quick studying before leaving the house, then made my way over to school. 

This morning I was particularly unexcited about life because....

*Grumbles*

1) I did not feel prepared for the math quiz, and I hate feeling unprepared

2) I've been exhausted this entire week, and had a rather large sleep deficit this morning

3) I had to drive up to Santa Rosa, immediately after math class for something I thought was a waste of time and gas

4) Did I mention exhaustion? 

5-8) I was definitely sleepy and tired

As I was walking from my car to my classroom, my phone pinged with an email. It was the daily email that a friend of mine sends out with an encouraging Bible verse: "Behold, the Lord's hand is not so short that it cannot save; nor is His ear so dull that it cannot hear." (Isaiah 59:1) Reading this verse helped me to pause the whining voice I had going on in my head, calm down, and refocus. I said a quick prayer for alertness before sitting down to take the quiz, and I felt 1000x times better, just from this simple motion. 

*Blessings* 

1) I got 100% on the math quiz, which I really did not deserve because as I mentioned, my study habits have been lacking focus this week

2) The meeting I had in Santa Rosa was a much more profitable use of my time than I had anticipated AND I was able to make it on time because a car pulled out right in front of me before I had been looking more than two minutes for a parking spot. {Note: It can literally take forever to find a parking spot at the SRJC campus. This is huge.}

3) My Spanish class was exciting enough to keep me awake, and I ended up loving today's activities

4) I definitely got home and crashed. I usually don't nap... But when I do, it's for 2.5 hours.

So, my day went a million times better than it really ought to have gone, thank God {literally}. And I think I'll be able to get enough rest over this weekend to get back into the swing of things. No promises. 

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

• My room redecoration is almost completely finished! I am so close. I shall do a before/after post on it soon because I'm in love with my new set up. 

• I have decided to give up sugar for the remainder of Lent because I have not been feeling as healthy as I would like. So! I'll let you know how it goes. I'm already craving chocolate. This is the right decision, I just know it. Okay, so actually I just realized that this literally means I cannot have chocolate for over three weeks. WHAT HAVE I DONE. 

Ciao&Xx,

PS this took longer than 15 minutes to write