Monica child of God 1

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Is anyone else slightly freaked out that Pre-Lent and Lent itself are around the corner? My shock may be because I am on the Old Calendar and we haven't even celebrated Nativity and Theophany yet. Zacchaeus (the harbinger of Pre-Lent) is January 17th, less than 2 full weeks away!

M.
 

Monica child of God 1

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I always get excited about Lent. Its my favorite time of year since it leads up to Pascha. My church has extra services also which I love like the Akathist service and the Pre-Sanctified Liturgy.

Oh, I love Lent too! It is actually my favorite time of the year along with the forty days of Pascha. It is just that as a mom, a full time employee and a full time student, Lent means a lot of planning for me if the season is going to be meaningful and different from the norm of everyday. I have to plan devotional time at home with my son, meals need to be cooked and frozen in advance, potluck menus need to be planned, I have to arrange with my instructors for any absences for services, etc. Once all of that is done, I can fully engage the season without feeling like a circus juggler :) I have never had to do my Lenten planning this close to the end of the Nativity Fast and Winter feast days.

M.
 
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cobweb

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My stomach is just now getting used to the meat and dairy.

My boss is already irritated with me that I ask off for Sunday morning and the occasional Holy Day. I have a bad feeling that I am going to have to fight to get Pascha off this year since it is the same day as western Easter and that is usually a busy time for us.
 
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Khaleas

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I can't believe it starts so soon too. But I do love it!
It is kinda crazy on Old Calendar that you celebrate Theophany after the Lenten Triodion starts... I wanted to go up to Baltimore for Nativity but now I have my eye doc on Wednesday and driving with dilated pupils just isn't a good idea. I can't remember how long it takes for them to go back to normal.
But yes, good reminder to start making dinners and freezing them. I also need to pick out my books that I want to read for Lent. I wish we were going up to Baltimore for Pascha but hopefully next year. I'm still planning on going for Palm Sunday weekend. And I'm looking forward to hopefully spending a week at Jordanville early March.
 
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Monica child of God 1

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I can't believe it starts so soon too. But I do love it!
It is kinda crazy on Old Calendar that you celebrate Theophany after the Lenten Triodion starts...

Yeah! It is like my rhythm is thrown off or something. I don't know how to explain it.

M.
 
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katherine2001

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Yeah, I'm a little bit freaked by that. Maybe that's why I'm downing a lot of meats lately. :blush:

Yeah, I am freaked out by it. Personally, the long fasting periods are not my favorite. I struggle with depression (especially this time of year and the longest fasting periods always happen to be during my worst time with depression), and if I don't get enough protein, I end up going to a very, very dark place. I don't do as badly as I used to when I attended a mission with no resident priest and we got no visits from a priest during Lent, unless we went to a parish 60 miles away. I prayed so hard to move where I am now, so that I could attend all the services, because I was afraid that I would always dread the fasting periods instead of seeing them as something to look forward to rather than seeing them as torture (and torture is pretty much how I saw them). I am getting better about not hating the fasting periods (and you are afraid of them when you end up in very dark places), but I have to admit I still struggling with seeing them as a journey and something to look forward to. At least, I don't see them as a time when I am in the middle of a stormy ocean with no life preserver and seeing no land or ships in sight to rescue me.
 
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Yeah, I am freaked out by it. Personally, the long fasting periods are not my favorite. I struggle with depression (especially this time of year and the longest fasting periods always happen to be during my worst time with depression), and if I don't get enough protein, I end up going to a very, very dark place. I don't do as badly as I used to when I attended a mission with no resident priest and we got no visits from a priest during Lent, unless we went to a parish 60 miles away. I prayed so hard to move where I am now, so that I could attend all the services, because I was afraid that I would always dread the fasting periods instead of seeing them as something to look forward to rather than seeing them as torture (and torture is pretty much how I saw them). I am getting better about not hating the fasting periods (and you are afraid of them when you end up in very dark places), but I have to admit I still struggling with seeing them as a journey and something to look forward to. At least, I don't see them as a time when I am in the middle of a stormy ocean with no life preserver and seeing no land or ships in sight to rescue me.
I know what you mean, Katherine. I don't really look forward to the long lenten times either. I'm hypoglycemic, and sometimes I don't do so well on the diet. But I've learned to kinda improvise, with my SP's "ok" on that. I skip meats except fish, but I still eat dairy, so I don't do that great. I just do what I can. There was a time when I tried really hard and ended up feeling very lightheaded, dizzy, and nauseous. My priest told me to eat a hamburger or something like that a couple times a week during the fast. He said fasting isn't supposed to bring you to the place of feeling very sick. That's not the point. So, he tells me to do what I can. I can imagine how tough it is for you, reading your story, Katherine. :hug:
 
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Khaleas

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Yeah, I am freaked out by it. Personally, the long fasting periods are not my favorite. I struggle with depression (especially this time of year and the longest fasting periods always happen to be during my worst time with depression), and if I don't get enough protein, I end up going to a very, very dark place. I don't do as badly as I used to when I attended a mission with no resident priest and we got no visits from a priest during Lent, unless we went to a parish 60 miles away. I prayed so hard to move where I am now, so that I could attend all the services, because I was afraid that I would always dread the fasting periods instead of seeing them as something to look forward to rather than seeing them as torture (and torture is pretty much how I saw them). I am getting better about not hating the fasting periods (and you are afraid of them when you end up in very dark places), but I have to admit I still struggling with seeing them as a journey and something to look forward to. At least, I don't see them as a time when I am in the middle of a stormy ocean with no life preserver and seeing no land or ships in sight to rescue me.

Have you tried getting a bright light for the dark periods. I suffer from SAD and it gets really bad when it's dark (a good reason for having moved from Finland to Virginia - there is actually sun here in the winter). I have one of the bright lights that I turn on in the mornings and it definitely help to not dive down into that dark, bottomless pit.

Verilux HappyLight Light Therapy Lamp - Seasonal Affective Disorder Treatment

That's the one I have and it has been a good investment (you might be able to find it cheaper elsewhere but I think I payed almost 250 back when I got mine, but it has been worth every penny and definitely cut the drs costs). From what I've seen from my friends who are about your age say it gets worse with age, that the darkness affects you more. I usually pull mine out toward the end of October and put it away when I've seen enough Spring sun that I don't turn it on as much.
 
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Monica child of God 1

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I'm actually really happy that Lent/Pascha are so early this year, and that the Western Easter is on the same date.

The silver lining for me is that my spring break from university is the same as holy week so I don't have to worry about missing services :) Clean Monday is on President's Day which means no class, so I won't have to miss the Canon of St. Andrew. Also my job gives us Good Friday off. Last year I came in to work on the Western Good Friday so that I could have our Great and Holy Friday off, but this year everything matches up.

On the downside of having Easter/Pascha on the same day, my husband wanted to cook Easter dinner and have people over this year. But our parish custom is to eat out of our baskets after liturgy, then have a big potluck meal after Agape vespers. So I'll either have to miss the parish feast or disappoint my husband. Bummer.

M.
 
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On the downside of having Easter/Pascha on the same day, my husband wanted to cook Easter dinner and have people over this year. But our parish custom is to eat out of our baskets after liturgy, then have a big potluck meal after Agape vespers. So I'll either have to miss the parish feast or disappoint my husband. Bummer.

M.
you could try to do both :)

if i go home i'll probably try to go to both Orthodox and non-Orthodox Easter services.
 
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