by Andy Ortiz, Managing Editor

Lent started last week, but it’s not too late to think of what to give up for it. For those struggling to figure out what to give up for Lent, here are the top five unique things that you can sacrifice for the season that’ll help get rid of bad habits and bring you closer to God.

Figuring out what you want to sacrifice for Lent can be a bit tricky. On one hand, you don’t want to pick something so inconsequential that getting rid of it will have no impact on your life whatsoever. But on the other, you shouldn’t pick something so important that it would be too difficult to live without it. With that being said, here are some ideas for things you could sacrifice during Lent.

#5: Fast Food and Takeout

One of the easiest things to give up is fast food, refraining from ordering food online and spending too much on restaurants. This is good for multiple reasons. For one, your wallet will thank you for relieving it from constant purchases. Second, it’s good to relieve your body from junk food and other things that could harm you in the long run.

The time that you spend getting takeout or eating fast food could instead be used to focus on praying and getting yourself closer to God. In fact, giving up fast food is a very easy segue into fasting for Lent in general, so it’s a good option to hit all the big points of the season.

#4: Time on Technology

This could be TVs, radios, but especially phones and computers. Obviously, in today’s world, it’s really difficult to just completely give up these technologies because they’re so prevalent in our lives. A much better idea would be to limit your time on your devices, both to limit the time you spend engaging with social media as well as to spend more time focusing on yourself and your faith.

An easy way to help limit time on your phone would be to use the built in screen time limits in the settings. You can also hide your most used apps from the home screen and change the colors of the screen to greyscale to help discourage you from using it.

#3: Unnecessary Spending

In today’s world, everything is so expensive. The prices of basic groceries have been getting higher and higher, which is only compounded by bills and taxes. The best way you could relieve that burden is by cutting out any purchases that you don’t actually need, such as trendy clothes, games and accessories.

This can help bring you closer to God in a few ways as well. For one, Catholicism often begs the importance of not being drawn in by the things you don’t need. It’s more worth your time to focus on deepening your connection with God.

#2: Negativity

On the news and on social media, there’s always something bad happening. The news is always reporting some horrible event and people on social media are always causing some meaningless drama. All the negative energy around you can cause you to be negative as well. It makes you complain, it gets you into arguments and it makes you feel down.

By “giving up” negativity for Lent, you can cast out the negative influences in your life and better your spirituality. This involves previous points like refraining from social media, but here it’s a bit more than that. You should avoid complaining and fighting with people and learn to forgive just as Jesus did. Giving up negativity is one of the best sacrifices you could make for Lent because it brings you closer to Jesus in acting as he did.

#1: Nothing at all

This might sound very weird, but perhaps one of the best things you can give up for Lent is nothing at all. Many people focus on giving things up because the faith demands it for the season. As a result some people tend to miss the point of Lent, because they see it as a time to sacrifice something they love just because.

But if nothing at all – then what do you do for Lent? The focus shouldn’t just be on “losing something” as much as it should be giving back to your community. Bosco science teacher Mr. Brian Miller uses Lent as an opportunity to better himself and give back to others.

“I feel that Lent should be an opportunity to make myself better, to find ways to improve myself and maybe improve others,” said Mr. Miller. “Doing service in the community is a great way to help others while also providing introspection on how I am both blessed but imperfect.”

Giving things up for Lent is important, because it shows our sacrifice that we’re willing to make. But if we can’t sacrifice, we could spend our time instead doing charity and finding volunteer opportunities. You can also spend more time praying, paying attention at mass, going to confession and overall trying to be closer to God. In the end, that is the most important part of Lent.