Religion or Competition at The Water Cooler?

Wednesday marked the beginning of a religious time in the Christian church called "Lent", a time known to be one of the holiest of the year according to the Christian calendar. During the 40 day span in early spring leading up to Easter, Christians are supposed to "give up" an item in their lives. And while many of the lent participants are devoted Christians, what I find interesting is the amount of participation for the event from the non-religious alike.  A blogger for Metro puts it that "Although part of Christian tradition, religion doesn’t come into it for many these days, with the practice of giving something up for 40 days having evolved into a general office-based will power competition." 

A Jewish friend of mine informed me on her aspirations to go until Easter without eating any chocolate. Despite the deep Christian roots, many non-religious participate in the event, focusing on the time as just another challenge. Like the article mentioned, an "office-based will power competition" is what many see lent to be. As I see it, whoever can really restrain from M&M's or cut back on the coffee for a whopping 40 days has a new thing they can brag about around the water cooler. I suspect there are many other things that people to equip themselves with things to speak on at the "water cooler", such as parents to pushing their children in school and sports for more "bragging material". What other things do you think that Americans put themselves to in spite of better bragging material about their own and their families achievements? Do you agree that Lent has become a time for people to try to do a little something to show up their co-workers?