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Year Two, Day 258: Abstinence

I am wide awake, brewing some Earl Grey tea and getting ready for my day. It is 7:20 a.m. and I even have my face on!

At my age, I feel naked without a little eyebrow pencil on. My eyebrows started disappearing when I hit menopause.

I am feeling good this morning.  In my quest to add more time to my life by waking up earlier, my standard mode of operation has been to hit the snooze alarm several times and then grab my cell phone. First thing I would do would be to check Facebook to see what my friends were talking about.

Then I would get irritated, and annoyed.  I would then go over to Words with Friends and try to conquer my son-in-law. I have only beat him once. I would feel my adrenaline surge.  And finally, when I score a victory against a friend, I would hop out of bed and curse myself for wasting so much time.

Essentially get up on the wrong side of the bed.

This morning I decided to refrain from looking at social media or even playing an online game.  I did hit the snooze a few times. But then I grabbed my phone and looked over the breaking news.  Nothing earthshaking, so I got up, stretched, took a shower, put on my face and here we are!

Something about abstinence has always lifted my spirits. Perhaps it is my Catholic upbringing. I remember as a child, worrying about what to give up for Lent. I was especially worried that if I broke my resolve and ate that potato chip during Lent, that God would punish me.

Later in life, I embraced fasting, abstinence, celibacy. I prided myself on not being dependent on any THING to get me through life.

And as my spiritual walk with God deepens, I find giving up material things, behaviors, even thought patterns, just opens my heart up for a closer relationship with Him.

I have been focusing on the fruits of the spirit to keep me on track. When my mind wanders to negativity, I bring it back thinking of three of the fruits:  "Love, Joy and Peace".

I do not experience Love Joy and Peace when I look at posts on Facebook lately. I experience, anguish, headaches, stress and bitterness.

I am not going on a complete social media fast.  Afterall I do like my friends to read this blog!

Just abstaining in the morning. I think limiting it to bus rides would suffice. Note: I will be posting my blog link online before I leave.  Just keeping it transparent. :)

I will be leaving shortly for my church job. Today I will be alone in the office. The pastor left me her cell phone number and several contacts from church members if I need help. But I think it will be a good day to get familiar with the computer program and research how things are done. I am looking forward to some nice
solitude.

I am an introvert. I do my best work alone!

That said, I do seek balance. I love my family friends and students. But three hours alone working on a computer away from social media is probably just what I need right now!

So, I wish you all a Happy Tuesday!

I have a bus to catch and a job to do!

Love, Joy and Peace

Zita

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