I honestly didn’t realize today was Mardi Gras. Normally I don’t realize it, but I had a plan this year, and missing Mardi Gras actually would have messed my plan up.

I was raised Catholic, and even though I no longer go to church or practice, the only real holdover from my past religion is Lent. The theory is you’re supposed to give something up as a sacrifice. It was never a practice that made a lot of sense to me, even though it’s supposed to be symbolic. But when I would give things up, it would always be something kind of silly, like chocolate or ice cream or something, and half the time I wouldn’t even manage to get through 40 days without slipping.

So a few years ago I changed my plan. For the 40 days of Lent, I gave up procrastination. I forced myself to create something every day and posted it on the internet for accountability. It was hard, but I did it with no slips. It might not be as much in the spirit of things to give up something so intangible, but it genuinely helped me and made me feel like I was actually doing something that mattered, instead of just pretending to give up something trivial that I would totally go back to the second Lent was over.

So this year, I’m giving up something more intangible again. I’m giving up ignoring my blog. However dumb I feel about it, I’m going to post here everyday until Lent is over. Heck I might even try to push for Easter. We’ll see how things go. I suppose I accidentally picked the right time to come back here and start writing again. Here’s to happy accidents!