It’s mid-February and I would guess most students have already given up their New Year’s resolutions. But for Catholics and Christians the next 46 days of Lent is their equivalent.

Whether you’re religious or not, the practice of Lent can be a time to re-evaluate your goals. Lent is roughly the month-and-a-half time before Easter that primarily Catholics use to get closer to their faith.

Starting today, this time offers an opportunity to “get back to the loving, kind, caring, compassionate human being that we are supposed to be,” said Kevin A. Codd, priest of Saint Thomas More Catholic Student Center & Catholic Newman Association at Washington State University. Lent is also a time for someone to build God into their life or experience him for the first time.

Codd identified three practices that are asked of people participating in Lent. First, he said people should be a little more active in their prayer life. It could be reading a chapter in the Bible before class or even taking 15 minutes in between classes to find a quiet place and pray.

Second, Codd said people should do something of service, such as a charitable act. A service should be something one would not ordinarily do themselves. For instance, simply hold the door open for others before you walk in.

Lastly, be sacrificial. This usually involves some kind of fasting or abstaining, he said. Candy, desserts and junk food are commonly given up for Lent. However, in this day and age some students get a little more creative and give up social media, gossiping, or even listening to music while walking to class.

Getting rid of the distractions gives people more time to reflect on their life and fill what used to be distractions with self-awareness and awareness of the world around them. Lent offers a time in which students can prioritize and look at their values.

“Certainly those people who choose to be more charitable, more kind to others, more sensitive to the poor, that’s great. You don’t need a religion to do that,” Codd said.

For the religious, Lent offers time for people to flex their spiritual muscles. Doing a little extra in their prayer life like reading the Bible or praying “The Way of the Cross” with fellow Catholics at service, helps strengthen their individual relationship with God. Giving back to those who don’t have much humbles the mind. Some students help the homeless in Spokane or collect their change to donate to the Catholic Relief Services.

For those who are not religious, Lent can be a time to get back on track with their New Year’s goal or just meditate on their behaviors.

“Are my Friday nights running around helping me grow up or is that keeping me an adolescent,” Codd said. “If it’s not helping me grow up to the man or woman I want to be, then here’s a great chance to say ‘OK, let’s do something else and see what happens.’”

Lent is a new beginning and a time where true reflection happens. People of faith grow more in relationship with God. People who don’t believe reflect on their values and ask if they are really their own.

As a former Catholic, I realized the importance of faith in my life after hitting my lowest of lows my sophomore year in college. Getting back to my roots, I decided that I would read my Bible every day and give up the unnecessary spending of going out to eat.  

Lastly, Lent’s a time to meditate on the question: What is supporting my growth to become the human being I or God dreamed me to be, and what’s pulling me back?