Day 41

So, technically I've come to the end of the 40-day fast.

Aside from being obedient to the call,  I really think it was good for me.

I have lost cravings for some of the foods that I know were bad for me.  It's funny...of all the things I put down for the duration of the fast, the only thing I found myself really missing was cheese.  Four or five paper-thin slices of really sharp cheddar cheese is one of my favorite snacks; that will no doubt make it back into my daily food routine.

But I'm hoping consumption of white stuff...bread and sugar...stays at a minimum.  I just can't go there.

I didn't get as in depth and retrospective in either my blogging or my prayer journaling as I had hoped, but the (almost) daily blogging here is a step in the right direction.  Again, I need to continue to press in to that even though the fast is over.

I haven't missed Facebook as much as I thought; 'course, I cruised through a few times because that was how I had to communicate with some folks, but I didn't spend hours on it.  I flipped through my home page a bit today, but didn't feel compelled to hang out.  Maybe I can keep to minimal involvement there, too.

And the 862 blog posts waiting for me on Google Reader will most likely see a quick 'mark all as read'...just because I don't have time to catch up so many.  I will go back and read where necessary to understand what's going on now...but old news is old news.

As I wrote in an earlier post,  I need to be careful about how much time I spend w/online friends vs. actual human beings.  I've missed a few of the blogs...but by and large...I learned I don't have to read everything everyone writes.  Which feels really hypocritical, because of course I want folks to read what I write. ;-).

But mom reads it (Hi, Mom!), so I suppose that's enough.  If my hubby and my kids don't think the blog is worth reading, I can hardly expect other folks to feel that way.  I just have to recognize that, first and foremost, I blog for me.  So as long as I'm finding it pulls and stretches me, then I will keep going.  When I went into the fast, I wondered if I would discover that I should put down blogging and move on to other things; for the time being, anyway, I've realized that answer is 'No.'  It's still beneficial to me...and if it's beneficial to anyone else, that's just icing on the cake.

Actually, in many ways, the fast was just phase 1 of change implementation...it was about breaking bad habits.

Now it's time to work on building better ones.