Thursday, March 2, 2017

The first 48 hours

After 48 hours with no television or Facebook, I noticed a few things about my day.  I'm getting stuff done around the house before I go in to work, so it is not waiting for me when I get home or on my days off. I am less stressed because I don't hear as many people shouting or fussing. I'm not bombarded with commercials or things being repeated over and over. Instead of hearing a message over and Over and OVER that I can lose weight if I use this or that product or eliminate a chronic disease that I probably don't have if I take this or that drug, I am doing things that are healthier. I'm not sitting around as much...I am moving. I'm eating pumpkin seeds, eating salad and drinking red wine instead of consuming high carb foods and sweets. I am enjoying the quiet. Another benefit...time to think and write!

So far, the hardest thing to get used to was eating without television, followed closely by going to non social media websites. So far, I haven't noticed any negative things about my choices.

I think social media misses me more than I miss it because a few minutes after being off it for 48 hours, I got a notice about someone's status...no one I am close with, and my life would have continued blissfully without knowing about the update. 8 hours after that I got a summary that I had 24 updates, etc.  I just filed both notification and will keep them until I decide to go back as a regular, just to see how many pleas to return I get.

In like a...out like a...

It's a saying that I learned in childhood.  In like a lion, out like a lamb (or the opposite) can accurately describe the transitional weather in the month of March. I wonder what the originator of that saying would think about the weather on March 1, 2017. The temperature was, warm, like late April or early May with a high in the low 70s and low around 50. That could be described as lamb-like (or maybe lambish or lamby even though they are not recognized as words). Otherwise the day was more like a roaring lion with gale force winds most of the day and occasional heavy rain. It makes me wonder what the rest of the month and the end of the month will be like. For an area that had very little snow, will it be a snowy, icy month, or will Spring stay around. If the theory is true, perhaps March 31 will be chilly but calm. 

Wednesday, March 1, 2017

Trying again...

Well, it looks like this year, I am trying the same things I have attempted in the past...freeing myself from television and social media for the best part of at least the next 6+ weeks, or longer if I like the results of my disconnect. Today is day one of my attempt, and so far it went without any withdrawal symptoms. I literally unplugged my television at 5 minutes to midnight, just in case I was tempted to turn it on. One noticeable benefit was the fact that I got several small but important things done around the house. Multiply that by 30 or 40 or more just over the next few weeks, and that should really make a difference.

Hopefully, I will get back to more blogging. I plan on checking in with social media and television about once a week for an hour or so, but restoring balance seems like something I need to do, and that means keeping certain things in check that were getting out of hand.

I didn't realize it had been so long since I posted, but at least I made it in less than a year, which is better than the 3 year absence from before. It feels good to be back here.