Surviving Dew Withdrawls

So as you may recall, I decided to give up Diet Mountain Dew for lent this year. Which has been extremely challenging for me. I was typically consuming a 2 liter a day sometimes more. So needless to say the last 311 hours, yes I have counted, have been some of the hardest of my life, or so it seems. I have passed out from exhaustion, been unable to sleep for nearly 5 days, laughed, cried, ached, you name it. It is like I have become a whole new person. I donno if any of you have ever been so addicted to something and then tried to live without it, it honest to goodness is crazy how different I feel although I am mostly getting used to the non-soda self again.

But as this has been a challenge like no other I thought I would pass on some survival tips that have helped me thus far. If you have any additional suggestions please share.... as I am not quite a third of my way there, and it certainly is still a struggle at times.



---After the first day I pretty much thought I was gonna die I was experiencing major caffeine withdrawals; major head-aches, depressed thoughts, fatigue yet restless nights, and constantly had to fight off my urges and sub- consciousness that kept drawing me to my delicious dew. I fought them off trying to focusing on why I was doing this in the first place. To go without to get a since of what Jesus did on that cross and that humbled me big time... Here I was barely able to give up soda a few hours and Jesus never even tasted the stuff, let alone all the beating and sacrifices he made for me I am pretty sure dew is nothing in comparison.


--- As for fighting some of the symptoms themselves I felt the need to counter act them slightly hoping to find a viable alternative I went to the drug store and decided to get some 5 hour energy hoping that could at least get me through work. Yet to my surprise they now card you for buying them, and since I still can pass for 12 at the buffet and had lost my licence somewhere admits the laundry, I was lost for hope. So I had to stick to drinking tons of water to keep me having to pee aka unable to sleep, and taking aspirin for the headaches.


---Also to help boast the energy and moral I played DDR whenever I got the chance...getting mighty good too as a result...see good things can come from sacrifice.

---To help reduce the cravings I would supplement them with Shamrock shakes!!!! Which are pretty much the best things on Earth.... Now up to 25 for the season!!!



Some other things that have helped me as I fight to stay true to my lent commitment are reading all the negative things about caffeine addictions and soda intake. As it turns out there is a lot of research out there to suggest that moderately high doses of caffeine (more than a few cups of caffeine-containing beverages per day I think a 2-liter of dew classifies) can lead to fertility problems, tachyarrhythmia (abnormally increased heart rhythm), high cholesterol, boost a woman's risk of osteoporosis and aggravate fibrocystic breast disease, heart rhythm abnormalities, high blood pressure, ulcers and premenstrual tension and cause panic attacks.

Yuck nothing I want... If you like me are addicted to caffeine I would suggest a more gradual reduction in your amount as going cold turkey was a real bare at first...yet I am doing a whole lot better each day and starting not to even miss my dew. Well at times any how.

Bye bye diet mountain dew I shall miss you

With the awesome warm temperatures today (reached 65 here in Binghamton, NY) I was reminded that Spring time is not too far off, aka round two of winter with a few nice days like today sprinkled into the mix of ickyness. Nevertheless, I am looking forward too having shamrock shakes again xD and on a more serious note got me wondering if I should participate in lent again this year, as Easter is right around the corner. Last year, I choose to participate in Lent for the first time, although in a somewhat less than traditional manner as I used the lent time to help me get my time priorities back in line. I was not totally successful in my attempt to give up my morning sleep, last year but it did help set a precedent for giving God the first hour of my day which I still do for the most part, and it did help me focus on the real reason for lent. So I think all in all it did far more good for me then harm even if I am not Catholic. So this year I have chosen to give up Soda! For me that is the equivalent of giving up Chocolate and Coffee for most normal people so this is going to be a hard one but I think it is for a good purpose after all, not to mention my soda habit is getting out of control averaging well over 2 liters a day! So this will certainly be a challenge for me.

As this season of lent approaches, I encourage us all regardless of if we choose to fast from anything in particular to focus on what this season is about. This time also gives us a great opportunity for each of us to assess our current spiritual state and see what areas God would have us grow in, and what things in our life we may need to purge out of our lives.

In order to figure out my current spiritual state I have found these questions helpful to contemplate.

What habits do I engage in that are destructive to my spiritual health?
What material things have I become too attached too?
What areas in my life are unbalanced?
To what do I devote too much or not enough time?

As I have only recently decided to participate in Lent I wanted to figure out a little bit more about it this year before giving up my beloved Deit Mountain Dew so that I might maximize this experience, as well as to better understand this tradition that has been going on for hundreds of years.

The Pope describes so of the benefits of Lent saying,

Through fasting and praying, we allow Him to come and satisfy the deepest hunger that we experience in the depths of our being: the hunger and thirst for God.

Doing some quick research I found that the most common things to give up for lent include, sweets, T.V. watching, snacking between meals, coffee, soda (like me, this year) and video games. I also found out that many people will also use the lent period to add certain good things to there life such as spending more time with family, giving to the poor, doing an extra chore, volunteering, spending more time in prayer, doing random acts of kindness, etc.

Although Lent has become rather popular and socially accepted even despite not fully knowing what the lent season is really about. Lent is not really about giving up your favorite foods it is about focusing on what Jesus did for us on the cross 2,000 years ago. And by engaging in the activity of self denial, and fasting we as Christians have a great opportunity to grow closer in our walk with God. In today's world self-denial is sadly rare and far between as self-indulgence has become our rule so taking some time apart from this mentality and truing to solely focus on God can me immensely difficult and rewarding. By lifting a person's gaze to God, created goods point beyond themselves, to greater joys. Consequently, he who truly enjoys God's goodness in created things, such as food and drink, will not remain attached to them. Rather, he will go beyond them, readily giving them up, in order to enjoy the higher things. As Christians we are called to seek after God first and for most and not of the things in or off this world. In addition to fasting lent is also a time to purify ones heart. By turning away from his concerns personal pleasures and instead turning more wholeheartedly to God.

This year lent begins on Wednesday March 9th (Ash Wednesday) and goes till Easter Sunday April 24th (46 days latter). And in honor of this season I have decided that in addition to giving up Soda for 46 days, I have decided to also do my best to take this season to get my focus back on God first and eliminating all of my other wanna be gods/ idols. To effectively do this I have decided to write this list of things I will and need to do to make sure my focus and life is back in order and eliminate all the other gods in my life.

I am going to listen to Christian music instead of secular music.
Stop watching shows and movies with gratuitous sex and/or violence.
I am also going to only watch up to 10 hours a week of movies or TV.
Sit in fifteen minutes of silence each day.
Write a letter to God each day.
Set time limits on overall online time.
Resist making or adding to lists that rank people.
Share one spiritual video with your online network once a week.
Focus on the positive things going on in my life.
Leave an encouraging or positive comment on a different blog each day.
Each week I am going to write a letter of thanks to someone.
Write a poem of praise for each person in your family.
Write a list of the ways God has blessed you and add to it each day.
Exercise each day.
Give up foul language.
Give up gossiping.
Make time to pray for at least an hour throughout each day.
Keep up with my quite times and scripture reading.

Lent is a tremendous opportunity for spiritual growth. I hope these suggestions re-energize you on your spiritual journey. If you try one or more of these ideas, or if you’d like to share your own Lenten practices, please leave a comment.

Lent- the plan

So I have been thinking a lot about lent this year, and really feel like I should actually participate it has always been one of those things I sorta thought about and said I would do next time, and then next time rolled around and well it never happened. But I decided to change that this year. However unlike most people I will not be giving up chocolate, sweets, deserts, coffee, or anything food related. Not that those are necessarily bad things to give up. It is just that to me it doesn't seem like me depriving myself of any kind of food particularly ones I don't like all that much to begin with is really going to being me closer to God or help or help me repent and do soul searching which believe it or not is the original intended meaning of lent. Yes, giving up our favorite foods is very much a tradition of this time and I appreciate that tradition and sacrifice I just wanted to give up something more meaningful that would actually requirement to repent and soul-search.

As I was trying to decide what to give up I felt a different pull/ desire to start more consistently doing my devos and spending time in the word and pray with God daily. Something I regrettably do not get to every day. So I came up with an idea this year for lent I will give up my mornings of sleeping in and hinting snooze. In my opinion far more of a sacrifice that giving up something like coffee or chocolate. But yes I have decided to do what all those highly spiritual people you hear have done where they get up and start the day off praying and reading the bible.... I have always waited till the end of the day, but now I am going to get up early and give God the day right from the begging when I will wish I am asleep. I know this won't be easy particularly as the nights get longer with school. But I have decided I will give this up and hopefully start this habit of giving God my day and starting my day off right.

For those of you that donno what Lent is here is a little background. Lent is a Christian tradition, that occurs the forty days leading up until easter. The traditional purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer — through prayer, penitence, almsgiving and self-denial — for the annual commemoration during Holy Week of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus, which recalls the events linked to the Passion of Christ and culminates in Easter, the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. By observing the forty days of Lent, the individual Christian imitates Jesus’ withdrawal into the wilderness for forty days. All churches that have a continuous history extending before AD 1500 observe Lent. The ancient church that wrote, collected, canonized, and propagated the New Testament also observed Lent, believing it to be a commandment from the apostles.

So keep in touch as I commit to giving up 30 minutes of snooze each morning for 40 days... I will be posting my progress and some reflections as I go if you are interested in reading.