Did you ever think about how your life could change if you watched less television?
Henry David Thoreau once said, “I cannot make my days longer so I strive to make them better.”
To the chagrin of children around the country, a new school year is taking shape.
The peaceful relaxation of summer months filled with abandonment have all but disappeared, and in its wake replaced with chaotic schedules that do nothing more than cause parents, students and teachers continual anxiety.
But as Thoreau points out above, we cannot increase the length of our days – a desire which is simply beyond our control. However, we can impact the quality of our days and in turn the quality of our lives.
And I truly believe that in order to impact the quality of our lives we must first eliminate or reduce some of the mindless entertainment that does little to support a healthy mind and body, especially during a busy school year.
Television is easy to become addicted to. The sheer enjoyment obtained by sitting comfortably on the couch or in your favorite chair while your brain turns to mush is hard to ignore.
But I challenge you all to do something that I myself vow to do as we enter into the last four months of 2012.
I vow to watch less television and do something more constructive with my time. Maybe it’s reading a book or newspaper, exercising, visiting a local park, cooking a good meal, sitting with a friend or loved one and conversing over a cup of coffee…and the list is truly endless.
The point is that even if you cut out one hour of television viewing a night in favor of something more constructive like the examples I’ve mentioned above, you’ll find that you’ll be able to impact the quality of your days – no matter how short they may seem.
There will always be time when our brains just need something mindless to occupy our time, but that mindless entertainment should not be part of your regular, every day routine.
There’s a world going on beyond our flat screens and less television will challenge you to do something more constructive with the time we’ve been afforded will reap you many rewards.
Give it a try…I’ll keep you posted on my progress.
