30 Days: No TV

I have been waiting to do this challenge for a few months now. I knew that I couldn’t succeed during Game of Thrones. I know my weakness, so why set myself up for failure? Now that the epic finally is over, the challenge has been set.

Rules

There were no short form or full length TV programs or full length movies unless it was a documentary. Any type of fictional content had to be seen in the theaters. I wanted to make sure that we only consumed content that would either be informational or at least illicit a good conversation.

Initially, it was a lot easier than I thought it would be. I sometimes throw on a TV show as background after work, but I found myself researching some comedy podcasts to play for those moments when I need some stress release.

Takeaways

I learned a lot about my TV watching this month. The most glaring thing that I learned is that I used TV as a coping mechanism for a hard day as a way to avoid thinking about my day and processing that information. The TV would just go on when I would get home from work or on a weekend morning and the time would go away; you get sucked in.

During the month, I was able to read three books. The total number of books I read before this month this year was three.

Sometimes, the best thing about setting up these restrictions is that it makes you think and evaluate situations. Cutting out some of the nonsense in my entertainment was tough, but I was able to read more and focus in on other projects rather than watching The Office Season 4 for the 8th time.