Ironically I wrote this blog post yesterday. I had decided that it was time to write about worry. As I was sifting through my thoughts on worry, why we worry and how do we decrease worry, it came to me.... Let's try to give up worry for Lent. So I finished what I thought was a great blog post. It was brief and thoughtful and inspiring...I thought. Then I posted it. As I was reading through it, I realized there was a typo. In my attempt to correct said typo, I erased forever the great blog post.

AHHH panic! I had just spent an hour or two creating this thoughtful and inspiring bit of written word and then poof gone. Then worry and anxiety. Then irony.... I was worrying about my thoughts on not worrying. So I did what I always do when I can't think about something any longer. I walked away from it. "Tomorrow" I decided " I will come back to it tomorrow."

So today is tomorrow and here I am. Worry permeates our world. We are beset on all sides of life with worry and anxiety. We are encouraged to be everything to everyone. Success in our careers pushes us to work harder and put in longer hours. Being the best parent propels us to make the best meals for children, sign them up for all extra curricular activities possible and engage them in every way to ensure that they are learning and achieving at the highest level. As a homeowner we find ourselves focused on decorating, yard work and not only having a garden but the best organic garden on the block. We find ourselves pulled in a thousand directions. We are involved in too much and committing ourselves to more because we feel that we should. Striving to be the best often results in not being enough. We are taught that not only can we do it all but we should do it all. Usually that pace leads to worry and anxiety.

Even in our anxiety and worry there are things that the world tells us to do. Go to Yoga, exercise, drink more water, eat well, go to be earlier, read that new book. We are again bombarded with to dos. Often we feel like we should be doing those things also. So then we find ourselves working full time, being a parent, being a spouse, keeping the house clean, cooking a great supper, going to PTO meetings, meeting our bible study, going to yoga, running at the gym and trying to read that latest greatest new book about how to do it all. What happens then.... WORRY!

So I challenge myself and you. Let's give up worry for Lent. Lent is that Christian season of self denial and sacrifice. It is the time when Christians remember the need to make sacrifices in order to remember the sacrifice of Christ. If we can simplify our life a bit, perhaps our worry will decrease. So let's slow down, step away from some of our commitments and remember that not everything is as important as everything else. Make a sandwich instead of a big dinner and have a picnic on the living room floor. Leave work early and take the kids on a hike. Spend some time with your partner instead of making sure the house is picked up. Skip that community event and go get ice cream. Just say no to all of the extras that create stress and worry.

We get caught up in making sure that we do everything just right. That leads to worry and anxiety. If we can slow down and enjoy our moments then we have a chance to be more to those who matter! Lent is about getting back to the core of ourselves and our spirituality. We cannot do that when all we can think about are all of the to dos that we must accomplish. So let's give it up. Simplify. Get back to what is important. When we do that then we are able to give up worry for Lent and maybe longer.