40 days without facebook.

Yesterday was Fat Tuesday, a day for excess and celebration. The weather here in Mississippi did not cooperate. My friend Tayla and I went to pick up our friend PJ at the new law school to go to lunch. "It looks like a Bronte sisters novel," I commented as Tayla zipped the wrong way through the one way circle in front of the building. "I know I'm going the wrong way," she offered in reply. I shrugged.

The law school absolutely looked like a scene out of Jane Eyre. Gloomy gray sky backdrop, massive rain soaked stone column facade...and PJ appearing as a teeny figure in tweed at their base. He walked down the long pathway to the parking lot, shoulders hunched up around his ears in a vain effort to combat the mist and wind. I joked that perhaps he was trying to make himself more aerodynamic.

We drove to Tallulah's, since it only made sense to eat Creole food on Fat Tuesday. The fact that Laurie had king cake from Bottletree made up for the wait on the cold rainswept patio. After stuffing myself with red beans and rice (and of course the aforementioned cake) and dragging myself back through the awful weather into my office, I spent the rest of the afternoon alternately working and inwardly debating my plan to give up Facebook for Lent.

I initially decided to give up Facebook because it's an addiction for me. I stay online long after I've read all the status updates there are to read, seen all the pictures posted, commented on everything I care to comment on. It takes up too much time, prevents me from more productive activities, and weirdly leaves me feeling a little empty and depressed when I finally log off. It's the perfect choice for me...a challenging sacrifice that will provide me with a little extra time for spiritual reflection (and possibly make me more productive in the meantime). But then I started noticing that Facebook decamping for Lent has become something of a popular trend.

I know the point of Lent isn't to give up something UNIQUE, but I started to wonder if perhaps I should change my thing. I wasted a significant amount of my afternoon and evening...on Facebook, stalking out how many people I know who are giving it up. And upon realizing this, I knew that my initial decision was the correct one.

I'm almost 24 hours in, and apart from a few moments of boredom, I have to admit that so far my first day in years without Facebook has felt remarkably....light. Focused. Freeing. But we'll see how tomorrow goes.