Lent 2021: 40 Days of Self Improvement

It has been a number of years since I've looked at Lent as anything more than a season on the liturgical calendar. I think this year I will attempt to look at it in a little different light. I don't mean to be sacrilegious, but I'm going to use it in a very non-religious way. I do see it as a time of spiritual growth, but probably not in a traditionally accepted kind of way. It will mostly be a time of self evaluation and personal growth rather than any kind of self sacrifice or personal penance.

I'm calling it 40 Days of Self Improvement.

The Lenten season begins with Ash Wednesday and ends with Easter Sunday. That's actually 46 days minus 6 Sundays (don't ask me why) for a total of 40 days.

Here's my plan:

40 days of 16/8 intermittent fasting
40 days of:  40 minutes of exercise (walking, cycling, weights, yoga, etc.)
                    40 minutes of intentional reading (philosophy, religion, faith, something contemplative)
                    40 minutes of purposeful prayer and/or meditation
Send 40 cards, letters, or messages of encouragement.
40 days of writing. I haven't figured out what this will look like -- blogs, personal journaling of what I'm reading, random thoughts of daily events -- I don't know, but it will be something.

It really isn't that much, but it will take some discipline to budget a couple of hours out of every day and to be purposeful about contacting people. I'm really not very good at working through a regular daily/weekly schedule. Hopefully, I'll be a healthier (both physically and spiritually) person by the end of it all. 

Any Lenten plans?

Be well,
John