Not Worth That Much TimeTop of the week to you! Welcome to the new website! There’s still some work to be done to make it a bit more pretty and tidy, but I hope you will enjoy it as is in the meantime! Here’s a Fresh Top Ten for the Inaugural Post on the New Site. Hope you enjoy!

For the last year of our time in Scotland, Mark and I almost altogether avoided TV, except for downloading episodes of Lost, and buying a season or two of an old show at Cash Converters. To be honest, it was a really life-giving situation, although sometimes I still wanted to ‘veg out’ in front of the TV…I felt like things were just so much better when we weren’t watching so much TV.

I once calculated the amount of time I spent watching a particular show in my childhood – Saved by the Bell. I remember that it came on twice on two different stations, meaning I watched two hours of a show I’d already seen every episode of, pretty much every day after school. I watched that same show for ages and ages – I’m totally confident for at least four, possibly five years straight, two hours a day during the school year. I did the math to discover that I wasted at the very least sixty days of my life – and if you think about it, since you’re not actually awake all the time, it was really a waste of even more time in terms of waking hours. I am certain I wasted an excess of TWO MONTHS of my life…on just one TV show! I want those hours back, Screech!

The list of good things we could probably accomplish – spending time with our children, loving our family, exercising…etc., is probably a few miles long, but for starters, here’s a crack at my Top Ten Reasons to Stop Watching So Much TV.

  • 10. Advertising works! Companies spend millions and billions of dollars on advertising every year because it actually works! The less TV you watch, the less commercials you will see that will make you feel like there’s one more thing you can’t live without. (If you do what we do – buy old seasons of shows, or download episodes, you can avoid commercials altogether and still enjoy the show in your own timing).
  • 9. It will probably improve your health – if nothing else than just for the simple fact that you might go to bed earlier and get more sleep! Early to bed, early to rise, might remove those dark circles from under your eyes!
  • 8. You might dramatically decrease your selfishness, and your flair for the dramatic. I mean, what good role models are you watching on TV. Life imitates art. Do you seriously want to model yourself after the Desperate Housewives?
  • 7. It’s very likely to improve your self esteem and self image if you stop letting the TV tell you what you should look like, and what you need to buy to have less frizzy hair, whiter teeth and a six-pack.
  • 6. Be more productive with good stuff! You can spend time with people you care about, doing something useful. You can organise your sock drawer…you can play with your kids…the options are unlimited!
  • 5. Read a book! There’s a lot to be said for curling up with a classic. You’ll probably learn something, and you probably won’t feel like you need to be a better consumer at the end.
  • 4. You could cancel your TV subscription altogether, and save money for a holiday – or just save the money. This is a recession, right?
  • 3. You can get outside more. Yeah baby! Start living and stop watching other people live for you!
  • 2. Spend some of your former TV time reading a good blog or two!  I have a couple of recommendations… 😉
  • 1. If you’re a Christian, you can spend the time you would’ve lost watching TV with an awesome and Almighty God. You won’t feel the need to go shopping afterwards…you’ll be reminded of all the things you have to be thankful for…and you will find joy you will never find while hanging out with the crew from Grey’s Anatomy.  Yay!

So, that’s your TV-Stopping Top Ten! I hope you enjoyed it, you’ll leave some feedback, and you’ll get out there and do something that makes you feel alive today. But if it’s anything dangerous, don’t hold me responsible or the consequences. xC