Inspired by Jess and her church, I decided to do a fast last week. My fast involved not eating food for a week; I only drank juice, tea, and lots of water. It also involved not watching any television, getting on myspace, doing any shopping, or doing other self-indulgent things I believe to be harmful or habit forming. I also wanted to use some of this free time from not watching TV or eating to read more, mostly my Bible. I had a few reasons for wanting to do this. I read about some of the benefits of fasting, and these are all the things that I wanted:
- Purification – I wanted to purify my body and mind
- Spiritual awareness – I wanted to build a stronger relationship with God and feel closer to Him
- Rejuvenation and Revitalization – I read that fasting can give you more energy, a better attitude and motivation to clean up your life and forget about the past.
- Self-Control – fasting offers a lesson in self-restraint and self-control of passions. I wanted to lean on God more by devoting more of my time to Him rather than to my selfish passions.
- Weight-loss – a quick way to lose a little weight, though I tried not to make this my main focus.
I ended up cutting my fast short to only 5 days after a couple traumatic events on Sunday, but I believe I achieved all the above mentioned benefits. I felt like I had more energy, I felt better about myself and had just an overall happiness. Since the fast, I’ve felt some of these things fade a little, so I’m trying to keep some of these healthy actions in my general life. I feel like I’ve become more in-tune to how things affect my mood, though, such as what I eat and the activities I do. I believe this was a great learning and growing experience for me.
On another plus, I believe I may have inspired some of those around me. Before and during the fast, I have been going to church regularly and during and after my fast I have been reading my Bible every night. My roommate, Marisol, said that I have inspired her to start going to church again. So now she has been going to church regularly. She is Catholic, so unfortunately we don’t attend church together, but at least she is going.
Then there are the people I work with. I planned on doing my fast quietly and not talking about it because the Bible says not to fast in front of people, but they kept asking why I wouldn’t go to lunch or take any of the food they offered me. So I ended up telling them, and then of course had to explain why I was doing this. It ended up bringing up topics of religion, and other people started talking about going to church and giving up bad habits. A lot of people here are Catholic, I’ve found out, so some people wanted to give up something for lent. It hasn’t been completely supportive (they tease me about it too), but I believe it has brought up some really good discussions at work and overall my co-workers seem to be trying to be “better people.”
