Sometimes we just get fixated on the wrong things during Lent.  Or perhaps a better way to say it is: distracted by things different than God wants us to focus on.  Or we just get discouraged.  I found this advice by Marge Fenelon to be excellent and very helpful for me.  Hopefully for you as well.

Relaxing into Lent

As a little girl, I was extremely melancholic, to the point of finding myself every so often sinking into bouts of sadness or loneliness. Sometimes, I’d just feel “lost” for seemingly no reason at all. Nothing was ever truly wrong but at the same time, nothing was ever truly right, either.

Sure, there were things that could have had me down – my dad’s heart condition, the occasions of family discord, or the solitariness of being the youngest child who trails her siblings by several years. Our house certainly could get quiet and lonely at times. Yet, there was never anything I could directly relate it to. In fact, all these years later, I still can’t figure out the cause of those sensations. They were sudden, and they were strong. That’s all I know.

Read the rest here.