antarctica by sea

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randoms.
Ash Wednesday (today) marks the start of Lent. Lent, for all of you non-Catholics, is a period of 40 days of penitence which ends at Easter, or the celebration of Christ rising from the dead (“On the third day he rose again/in fulfillment of the Scriptures” - shockingly, parts of the Nicene creed come to me verbatim from years of Sundays). As a not-Catholic-anymore-Agnostic-fence-sitter-scientist, this is folklore, but like other fairy tales/allegories/legends/parables/yarns, it has a pleasant through line of introspection and restraint. I spent my early years giving up various niceties (dessert, swearing, candy, etc.), then switched to giving up Catholicism. Lent became an event I realized with some sense of nostalgia walking past ash-anointed followers or, even rarer, a practicing Catholic would wave away wine at dinner or a cigarette after - always apologetic and somewhat embarrassed at the abstinence (“Lent, you know”).  A few years ago my mother decided to add something to Lent, ostensibly because she grew tired of 40 days and nights without a glass of wine or a steak given her already angelic eating/drinking/sunscreening/exercising habits. Instead, another good habit was brought into the fold, one that had some weight behind it. I like the sentiment and could use the ol’ Catholic guilt-push. I’ve been lacking on my New Year’s resolution to write a few times a week and revisit my yoga practice. The latter could help me out of this depression I seem to be stuck in; a switch slowly flipped in my brain a few weeks ago and I cannot seem to flip it back. Maybe a little faith - whatever that means - in movements, in people, in life never staying in one state for long, in cycles and upward trajectories…maybe this is just the way to get back to feeling OK.

Ash Wednesday (today) marks the start of Lent. Lent, for all of you non-Catholics, is a period of 40 days of penitence which ends at Easter, or the celebration of Christ rising from the dead (“On the third day he rose again/in fulfillment of the Scriptures” - shockingly, parts of the Nicene creed come to me verbatim from years of Sundays).

As a not-Catholic-anymore-Agnostic-fence-sitter-scientist, this is folklore, but like other fairy tales/allegories/legends/parables/yarns, it has a pleasant through line of introspection and restraint. I spent my early years giving up various niceties (dessert, swearing, candy, etc.), then switched to giving up Catholicism. Lent became an event I realized with some sense of nostalgia walking past ash-anointed followers or, even rarer, a practicing Catholic would wave away wine at dinner or a cigarette after - always apologetic and somewhat embarrassed at the abstinence (“Lent, you know”). 

A few years ago my mother decided to add something to Lent, ostensibly because she grew tired of 40 days and nights without a glass of wine or a steak given her already angelic eating/drinking/sunscreening/exercising habits. Instead, another good habit was brought into the fold, one that had some weight behind it.

I like the sentiment and could use the ol’ Catholic guilt-push. I’ve been lacking on my New Year’s resolution to write a few times a week and revisit my yoga practice. The latter could help me out of this depression I seem to be stuck in; a switch slowly flipped in my brain a few weeks ago and I cannot seem to flip it back. Maybe a little faith - whatever that means - in movements, in people, in life never staying in one state for long, in cycles and upward trajectories…maybe this is just the way to get back to feeling OK.

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  1. antarcticabysea posted this