Fasting Failures!
ONE SUCCESS, MANY FAILURES
This past week has been littered with one fasting failure after another. Ash Wednesday proved difficult but the day ended in success, bone broth at lunch, one medium dinner. I fell asleep that night proud of my accomplishment. On Friday, I purchased a quart of fish bone broth that satisfied all my cravings during the day. A dinner of broiled cod and steamed vegetables filled my food needs. Then, on Friday evening, a disturbing incident occurred challenging my wherewithal. Upset with a situation out of my control, I turned to a box of Girl Scout cookies and polished off one of the sleeves only to devour the 2nd sleeve an hour later. If that failure hadn’t been enough, I finished off the evening with anything I could find to stuff in my mouth. The weekend arrived and a visit with family ended my best fasting intentions. CLICK HERE to view all my delicious and fun failures.
WHY DO WE FAIL?
Really! Why did I fail so quickly and dramatically? While researching the topic, I found hundreds of reasons for why we fail but the one that most struck a cord was an article on the physics of failure. According to the article, we fail for three main reasons: poor environment, lack of focus and low energy. Over the last week, all these reasons made perfect sense and my failures were inevitable. The article concludes by advising, “If a task requires more time and competency than you have available, consider either increasing the deadline till completion, eliminating the task completely or reducing the amount of the task you’d have to complete.”
REDUCING THE TASK
Attempting an old-time fast in today’s world is a huge stretch. During my parent’s and grandparent’s life, the opportunity to eat vast amounts of food at the drop of a hat were a lot more difficult. There were “disturbing incidences” and family visits, of course, but a box of Thin Mints or, my favorite, Peanut Butter Sandwich, weren’t sitting on the kitchen counters to sooth their troubled souls. Unlike me, they were much better at staying focused. Using stress as a justification to eat junk food didn’t much exist a generation ago. Also, eating out with visiting family wasn’t as prevalent as it is today. Attempting to fast daily in a world where food is cheap and plentiful is an almost impossible feat.
BEGIN AGAIN
What is possible, even in an unfriendly fasting environment, is to believe that failure is only the opportunity to BEGIN, AGAIN, AGAIN, AGAIN! This persistence can actually be a great spiritual practice. So in this vain, I will begin again. Today, as I write this post, it is the second Friday in Lent. I bought a quart of fish broth AGAIN. I’ve been sipping it throughout the day. Dinner will be meager, a vegetable omelet turned fritatta. I’ve cleaned the cupboards of any temptations (i.e. cookies and candy) and I plan to settle into an evening of TV watching while fighting off the “craving demons” who will surely rear their heads. Sunday is just around the corner and thankfully, Sunday is a fast-free day and a sweet treat will be OK to see me through! On Monday, I’ll begin again with all the best of intentions with homemade chicken bone broth which is on next week’s fasting menu.
Share your thoughts on fasting and failure with the DM community.
