Lent 2013: My Time Away from Television

Hello readers! Another year of Lent come and gone. In the tradition of giving up something I hold "near and dear," for Lent (like facebook, chocolate, coffee, and alcohol), I gave up television, movies, and videos. Why did I give these up? Well, I spend way too much time in front of the "idiot box" and need to spend my time doing other things instead...

... What kind of other things? Well, clean, read, sleep, anything really. Little more on that later.

I discovered giving up TV was harder than I thought... And I knew it was going to be hard. It is EVERYWHERE... for example, I go running at the gym, and the TV is set up right in front of every treadmill. If I go out to eat, it seems a TV is always near by. Even at home, the majority of my home has the TV visible when Carolyn is enjoying some (quality) programming. I really didn't realize how it was everywhere until I couldn't watch it.

A few things I missed while not watching the tube:

The Oscars

The Denver Nuggets 15 game winning streak.

The majority of March Madness and Colorado State Men's Basketball's rise (and fall) to (and from) the top 25 in the nation.

New episodes of Community, The Simpsons, Bob's Burgers, SNL, and Raising Hope.

The Bachelor Finale (we had money on the winner and guests over to watch, yet I kept myself occupied with other things)

Now, unlike past "sacrifices," I didn't do a great job with this one. Usually, I completely abstain from the temptation and go without a taste, peek, etc, but I can't claim that this time. The temptation was in all directions and I did watch a little and listened to a lot more. I feel like I was more engaged in the Oscars this year than I ever was before, even though I didn't "watch it" (though I did see Jennifer Lawrence fall while going to accept her best actress award in a wedding like dress). I saw a little of JT on SNL (which I look forward to seeing again/more of), and I even saw some of The Biggest Loser. But, for the most part, I was good. I never turned on the TV or played an internet video, so I like to think I did okay.

There were positives with this experience though. I actually got some things done while I wasn't watching TV. Things I should do, like my taxes and working out, and things I don't usually do, like read (Carolyn got me some boks for Valentine's day I've been working on). I got motivated to do a little pre spring cleaning and organizing of my files, my closet, my cabinets, and my kitchen. One other aspect I really liked about giving up TV was I pulled out some old CDs I haven't listened to in a long time... Some I like more than I did before, others I liked all over again.

So what's going to come of this? Well, I have missed TV and going to the movies, along with video games, and I look forward to watching and playing again, but I'm hoping I can slow down a bit late on week nights and some other times. I wanted to read Game of Thrones, but haven't started that yet, hopefully I will soon. And if I'm not watching as much TV due to new habits formed during Lent, well, I might actually get that done. Wish me luck. So there you go, another year of Lent in the books... what will I give up next year? Who knows, I have a few other things to focus on in the meantime ;) Hope you're all well and to see you soon!