Thoughts on Lent 2011

I am not what you might call a religious person. I have my beliefs but they are founded more in nature than someone I might put a name to.

So all in all, why participate in Lent?

I started not long after Dad died, as a means of testing my resolve and believe me it does truly test your ability to not give in to some craving at the first hurdle.

My first years involved cheese, cakes, wine etc... the latter not that successful as I don't drink enough of it to have noticed not drinking it. The cheese really took a challenge to achieve, I love cheese, in all different forms: sandwiches, in toast, grated on jacket potatoes.. it was incredibly difficult to not eat it, checking the ingredients for the hidden cheese factor. The outcome was that I now eat a lot less cheese than I used to and that surely has got to be a good thing.

Chocolate this year is my first attempt, and I am a self confessed chocaholic. I love it to drink, to eat and smell. A week into the challenge and I have already been tempted, on a pretty much daily basic you know the sort of conversations "Go on, no-one will know" to which my answer is "I would know" or "that would be cheating". To make matters more difficult, there is lots of chocolate left over from Christmas still here at Tre Agan so it isn't as if I don't have access to it.

What will I get from it, well a sense of achievement at beating my temptations and sticking to my word.. and I think anyone who does the same thing deserves to be proud of themselves...