(pic above via my friend John. Thanks John :))
I cancelled my Hulu subscription. Not that there is anything wrong with Hulu, there's just something wrong with me...watching so much of it.When I lived in Dallas I had cable and a DVR and I watched a LOT of TV. Once during a week of Thanksgiving vacation, I watched like four straight seasons of Dexter in a row because I could. Because I was an adult in my own house, and my roommates were gone. Because it was right there in front of me. I was tired and lethargic that whole week because I hadn't done A-N-Y-thing. After feeling that terrible, I decided I need to have a trip planned for all of my off time so as to prevent me from ever being that lazy again.
When I moved to Austin, I refused to get cable or a TV and I was real proud of that. Except my roommate had a TV and I had a DVD player so I just found myself going to Redbox ALL the time. "What should we watch tonight?" became a key phrase in our house. And our antenna picked up basic cable so we could watch mind enriching shows like the Bachelor. When I got married we refused to buy a TV, but by that time I had a Hulu subcription. Hulu is crappy in their movie options but they have TONS of TV. Especially reality TV, and I am a huge sucker for that genre.
Which brings me to today. We now live in South Carolina to be closer to mountains and beaches and I am sad to say that I just completed watching an entire season of Bachelor in Paradise. I have no explanation as to why I repeatedly, week after week, cared which twenty something was dating which other rejected twenty something on a beach in Mexico. But I did. And I watched all of it. And that's a lot of hours of my life.
We moved here to be in a place where we would want to get outside more, but didn't take into account that being a teacher, no matter where you are, is A MASSIVE TIME CONSUMING JOB. So at the end of the day you don't have time for a hike and a bike ride and you just crave the path of least resistance and all you want in life is peace and quiet and comfort and tasty food and to not be asked one thousand questions. So I get it. I get TV. I get wanting a break from doing all things productive all the time. I totally understand looking forward to a few hours of entertainment after a hard week of work.
BUT.
But I can't stop thinking about all the hours I give to the screen in front of me, and come out no better of a person because of it. I can't stop thinking about how those hours add up, and how absurd they sound when you say them out loud. One hour of TV/facebook/whatever a day equals SEVEN hours a week! Two hours a day equals FOURTEEN HOURS a week and so on.
Please don't turn into a person who feels like they can't talk about TV with me after this post, like I'm just silently judging you in my head the next time you talk about how you "binge-watched" this or that. No judgement here. This blog has always been about me and my thoughts and my own life. You do you. I'm also not saying I'll never watch TV again. I LOVE TV AND MOVIES. But I don't have a lot of self control, so in our family, my best bet is keeping it out of my reach. It's pretty much the same concept like how I'm not allowed to buy Oreos at the grocery store and keep them in my house. Because I won't just have two cookies a day. I can finish an entire box of girl scout Samoas before you even finish pouring the glass of milk. No control here, so just get it out.
Now, we DO still have options to watch things if we so desire. Our Library card allows us access to Hoopla, and we have Amazon Prime to ship Terry's snake stuff, then there's always itunes. But it hurts a little every time we pay $3 to watch a movie, so its easier to say no to that one. SOME media entertainment is fantastic and I learn from it like Poverty Inc.....but not Bachelor in Paradise or Real House Wives of New York (I'm sorry Bethany. I do love you and your hilarious wit). So I need to monitor and limit myself in this area a little more. Stay out of the rabbit holes if you will.
The thing I can't stop thinking about though is all those hours of my life I've used on media entertainment, and wondering now how they might have been better spent. Here are some of the things I've come up with that I could have been doing with all those hours of TV.
1. I could learn to Sail. Terry and I are currently obsessed with Gone With The Wynns right now. A couple who left the 9-5 lifestyle and have been RV-ing around America for the last five years. They just bought a Sailboat and this is where ALL OF MY DAYDREAMS GO TO I TELL YOU. There are tons of books on sailing in the library that could prep me for the real deal. In fact, I could just read all the books in the library on the perfect little screened in porch we have in our fabulous 1940 rental house.
2. I could plant a very small garden. We had big ideas about growing a garden on this acre we are renting...but there is a massive produce store called the Tomato Vine about a block and a half from our house that we can walk to and buy all the things ready to go without buying dirt and seed and containers and tools.
3. I could learn to play the piano. A skill I've always wanted. Pianos are everywhere. I'd love to sit down at one someday in a random hotel lobby and everyone turns there head and thinks, "What in the samhill is Alicia Keys doing here?!"
4. Photography. My Everest. I have wanted to be a professional photographer for about ten years now. Obviously not wanted it enough to learn my camera settings and editing software, but its a real dream I want to see come true in my lifetime. I especially think it would be fun to be a photographer for Pottery Barn or Southern Living. I could look at pictures of pumpkins neatly clustered on top of a plaid throw blankets next to candles and china tea sets all day, son. All day.
Also video-making. I took a media tech class in high school and loved it. Terry and I have had lengthy conversations about turning all of our trips into our very own "episodes" to remember and show our kids, just haven't gotten around to it. You know, taking up time and all.
5. Embroidery.
Pillows, wall hangings, what-have-you. Mom gave me a whole kit to embroider a bird like 7 years ago, that remains inside a box that I've now toted through two apartments and a house. And did you know back in 2006 I got paid about $800 for two quilts I made for one of my personal training clients? They were just squares sewn together, but he liked them and wrote me a check for eight hundo for those.
6. Sometimes I wonder if I could write childrens books. Terry and I like to think up ideas for them when we visit zoos. Like the giraffe who was born afraid of heights, and the monitor lizard who is, well, a bullied hall monitor at school.
7. Ted Talks = probably better than TV.
8. Games/Puzzles/Coffee Shops to explore. I never win games which leads me to enjoy them less. But there was this one time I beat Terry in Monopoly and I was queen of the world. I love puzzles though. And we could even take these items to all the cute coffee shops I should "stop into sometime".
9. My house could be clean? Like, all of it? At the same time?
10. I could clean out and consolidate both of the filing cabinets full of paid bills for each of us dating back to 2005.
11. I could come up with an idea, start a business, and be my own boss. I was there to physically watch that process happen with each of our good friends Kevin and Andrew. It was inspiring to say the least.
12. And the end of the lucky dozen is learn the Bible. Read the Bible. Memorize the Bible. Talk about the Bible. Know the Bible. I'm thirty four years old and still never made it through cover to cover.
I'm not saying I will never watch TV/movies again. You must be out yo mind cause I will. But I could watch less. I could definitely, definitely watch less.
