What is the point of giving up something for Lent?

Does it achieve anything?

Of course, it is a statement. It says I care enough about Lent or God to give up chocolate or Alcohol. I have often dreaded Lent because of this moral pressure.
But it can be better put this way:

We should try to give up something, or things, which separate us from God. That, of course, is a tall order, like giving up all one’s possessions. It is easier to find a symbol – something mildly inconvenient but useful in itself.

So I am giving up dairy products – cheese, or milk in my tea and coffee and milk, (not dark) chocolate – which I prefer anyway.

But it is part of a slow, modest statement to myself.