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PSU | Life > Experiences

The Beginning of my Fiat90 Journey

Veronica Figg Student Contributor, Pennsylvania State University
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at PSU chapter and does not reflect the views of Her Campus.

When I entered the spring semester, I decided I needed a change. My fall semester was full of a lot of late nights doing homework and not much else. I wasn’t attending church and wanted to start again.  

I also wanted to get involved in organizations that I hadn’t had time to attend since freshman year, like the Neumann Club. It was there I discovered Fiat90.

Fiat90 is a program that lasts through April 18, which is the last day of the Catholic season of Lent.  

It is a program that focuses on three categories of disciplines: disciplines of the body, disciplines of the mind and disciplines of the soul.

Disciplines of the body are fasting, exercising three to five days a week and waking up at your first alarm and starting your day.

Disciplines of the mind are no gossiping or complaining, only watching tv and movies with others (no solo binge-watching sessions), listening to music that lifts your heart to God, no phone after 9 p.m., no social media and no unnecessary purchases.  

Disciplines for the soul are offering prayers to a living or dead person that you choose, incorporating the rosary in your daily life, going to confession, reading a bible passage every day, completing a Novena and Marian Consecration, attending daily mass (when able), saying morning prayers and completing a morning and evening examination of your day.

I desired to grow closer to God, and I definitely did once I added the disciplines of the soul into my daily life. I felt spiritually fulfilled, which I haven’t felt since I left Catholic high school.  

The disciplines of the body and mind were also greatly needed in my life. Like many students, I sometimes suffer from academic burnout. The long nights of homework and studying in the fall semester had thrown my sleep schedule out the window, and I struggled to find time in my day to relax.  

Implementing disciplines like exercise and no phone use after 9 p.m. helped me reconfigure my life to add pockets of downtime in my day.

I had always wanted to work out but never found the time. In this program, I was motivated to find it. Now I have started to enjoy running in the gym after classes.  

I also am a bit of a procrastinator, so the no phone use after 9 p.m. was difficult at first, but it was truly a blessing in disguise. I do most of my homework at night because I am a night owl, and that’s when I work best. Eliminating phone use made me stop procrastinating and encouraged me to get my work done. 

A spiritual-based journey like Fiat90 might not be something you would like to pursue, and that is completely fine. I encourage you to try other ways to invest in self-care. Self-care looks different for everyone.  

For me, self-care is a journey that has reduced my procrastination and gotten me to the gym. For you, self-care might be drinking more water or trying a new club on campus. Your self-care journey is whatever works best for you.  

Veronica Figg

PSU '26

Veronica Figg is a junior at Penn State University with a major in Criminology and a minor in English. She is a student in the Schreyer Honors College. She has been writing since she was young. When she isn't in class you can find her in the library curled up with a good book or working on her second novel.