Tuesday, November 26, 2024

The Hunger Project - Day 1


The Donut at Monte Cecilia Park in the rain

By design, today's writing session is going to be short and sharp. It's mostly just to get down on the page what exactly I mean by "hunger" and to dump my thoughts on what I hope the next 30 days will look like before disappearing to school. 

I want to learn to hunger well. Currently, I am hungering after crappy processed food that provides a temporary reprieve from my feelings of stress and sadness. It's report season, it's the end of the year, it's almost advent - these factors combine to produce the sort of maelstrom that has me reaching for Kit Kats. Only I don't want to anymore. I can't anymore. Kit Kats and fries do not satisfy me. I have found this out again and again, but I still get stuck in an endless loop of eating, feeling shame, resolving never to do it again only to stumble and reach for the chocolate a few days later. It's hindering my intimacy with God, it's stunting my character growth and it's curtailing my influence. I will repeat again: I cannot do this anymore. 

I know that this is not about food, but rather satisfying my deeper desires. It's about hungering for the right things. 

So, I'm undertaking a project. I have all sorts of caveats about this which I will expand on at a later date, but I'm short on time so I'll just lay down the parameters of this project and run.

Over the next 30 days, I commit to: 
  • Living by my Rule of Life
  • Not eating any junk food (chocolate that's not dark, cookies & biscuits, lollies, muesli bars, fast food)
  • Going on a short walk to listen to Lectio 365 each morning before work - seeking to start the day by stoking my hunger for God, not lesser things
  • Documenting my walk in photo and my thoughts in writing on this blog each day
  • Planning what to eat the day before and sticking to it 
  • Reading Scripture whenever I'm feeling hungry 
  • Rewarding myself with a little money towards my "Fun fund" for every day that I'm on track with my hungering 
That's it for now, little Internet home. See you tomorrow morning. 

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