There are also times when it is helpful to examine our habits, in order to see how we use some of them in ways that are ultimately not life-giving. Some of these habits may give us temporary order, relief, or pleasure but in the long run they may also bring us disorder, attachment, emptiness, and dispersion of spirit. Sometimes we do not know what to do with ourselves if we do not shop, eat, drink, watch TV, or talk.
Self-denial is a way of addressing this problem.
— Brian C. Taylor, Becoming Christ