June 8, 2011

Resolution number six

A new month, and new monthly resolution.

Last month's no-coffee resolution was successful. 31 days, zero cups of coffee. It turned out to be easier than expected physically. I had a couple of headaches early on, but they did not linger past the first few days. I had only attempted to give up coffee once before, and it felt like I couldn't think straight. I didn't notice any cognitive problems this time around, and it wasn't all that more difficult to get going in the mornings. As I mentioned before, I really missed it though. Even if I didn't need it, I still wanted it.

Of course part of the reason for these monthly goals is the hope that the behaviors will carry over on some level going forward. Since I normally had only a couple of cups a day, there isn't much to cut back on now that I am drinking it again. But two or three mornings this month, I have skipped coffee in the morning, and having a cup is more of a conscious decision now.

So, on to June's resolution - no mindless tv. I like many Americans watch entirely too much tv. It is not that there aren't programs of value, it is just the mindless habit of turning on the set without a particular program in mind that I need to break. The tv often goes on at dinner time, and stays on until I head for bed. I am often doing things on the computer at the same time, and as studies have shown, no one truly multi-tasks. I am not concentrating on either the tv or what I am doing on the computer, and hours slip away into nothing. It has to stop.

So, the goal is no mindless tv, and I plan to shoot for no tv at all. I have left myself a caveat that if there is a movie that I really (really) want to see, DVDs are allowed. But the bar is set pretty high. Matt and Holly have a changing stack of Netflix movies, and I haven't been tempted so far. Kristy and I did watch a movie over the weekend, but that is the only screen time in the last eight days.

I will now have a few extra hours each day to get stuff done. More reading, more writing, more catching up with friends via e-mail and otherwise. This is definitely one of those resolutions that I hope carries on after the month is over. Not that I won't watch tv again, but I hope to keep the bar high as to what is worth my time. Make tv less mindless, and shrink the amount of time I spend in front of it. And shrink TV into tv.

1 comment:

Me said...

I love TV. I realized this addiction many years ago. At times though, I would get tired of running home to catch a show or having to watch hours of stuff I had taped because I wasn't home to see it (these days if I'm not available I don't watch it or tape it). So, in my 20s I didn't have cable for 2 years. I managed to get more stuff done in those 2 years than I could have ever imagined. I have been trying to talk my husband into getting rid of cable, but he's not having any of that conversation because God forbid he cannot watch ESPN.