A while a go, I bought 18 single-serve bottles of green juice. I drank a few of them, but really wanted to use them as a springboard for eating less things that cause inflammation in my system, and use that step as a springboard into an allergy elimination process for a few weeks.

You need to be prepared for this. You can’t just cannonball into it and hope for the best. You need to know how you’re going to rationalize straying from the program so that you can nip it in the bud. You need to know when you’re not going to feel like making dinner because there’s just a lot going on that day. You need to remember to have the pantry and freezer and fridge ready so that you can successfully navigate all the obstacles that life (and you, yourself) will put up in the way. It behooves me to know that I have something ready to go on Thursday Morning after swimming so I don’t just wing through the Tim Horton’s Drive Through and get a breakfast sammy and a tea with milk; and what we’re having for dinner on Wednesdays when we have chiropractor, so we’re not deciding on the way home to just go out for dinner instead.

I have to have soup ready for lunch or dinner so that I don’t eyeball the Scottish Bakery in my neighbourhood (and justify it by saying that it’s a walk to go there, and walking is good, therefore, treating myself to a wheat-based lunch *just this once* is good)

So today, in the fading hours of the day before MardiGras, by the magic of internet search queries, I found an article about Collop Monday. In Britain, there’s a tradition of eating bacon (collops) and eggs the day before Pancake Tuesday. Then, with the rendered bacon fat, you’re all set up to fry your pancakes. There’s elegance to that logic, and there’s bacon. And anything with bacon in the plan leaves no opportunity for failure, amirite? Mmmmm, bacon.

If I had this information a few hours ago, dinner in the Casa di Swears may have looked a little different. And While I want to have pancakes tomorrow, but really really shouldn’t (see: anti-inflammatory diet, above), I’m kind of glad that I’m not doing weaselly justification – I have the bacon fat, I’m just following traditions.

I’m hoping that the trifecta of a Monday and a new month (tomorrow) and the start of Lent (Wednesday) are the push that I need to actually stick to the process to calm my system down.

So, friends, whatever you need to do to prepare yourself, I hope that this week you get to start a self improvement project of your own. Lent is all about being prepared – Preparing the Way of the Lord – but if you’re not an RC kid, it still gives you a timeboxed 6ish weeks to make some changes in your life. For RC kids, It’s about using prayer and acts of charity and  fasting to encourage spiritual reflection. Lots of people focus most on the Fasting part – the giving up of a treat. My dad gives up his evening tipple and his wine with dinner. I have friends who give up chocolate or coffee. But some people also do a gratitude project, or a quit-smoking commitment,  or even a gonna-walk-more challenge. Some of these will take more preparing than others, but really, there’s a reason why I call this Spring Cleaning for my Soul.

May we all find success on our respective journeys.

Extra Credit:

I’ve created landing pages for the last 3 years of Lent Project. You can access them from the Reflections Projects option in the menu bar. Happy reading, friends!