Okay, last post before I work for the next 2.5 hours. I can do it.
I was thinking about some of my up-coming goals. I'm not sure I believe "new year's resolutions" are entirely effective. I think planning to change something overnight (literally) for the YEAR is far-fetched. I would like to start the new year with some fresh, short term goals to get me started on a nice track.
So here is one goal I'd like to share so far: Watch less TV.
Here's the scoop, when "bored", I often find random things to stream off of Netflix. Sure, some of the shows are entertaining and not inherently bad. But there are much better ways to fill my time. For most shows, I actually don't just sit and watch them. I use them as an ear-filler while I complete other tasks, sometimes being distracted by them. But there are much better things to fill my head with.
So to combat this habit, I have decided I will not completely just cut out TV, but for the month of January I will watch the shows that are "worthwhile" to me by keeping the ones I watch with my husband (or friends) on the line-up--fellowship opportunity (?? am I stretching it? haha), and allow myself ONE show on my own. Right now that only consists of the Office (like I mentioned, wraps up this year so that will ultimately cut out one show eventually), Parks and Recreation, and the Walking Dead with husband. We are also watching Code Geass with some friends. There are two other shows I am into right now, and that is Parenthood which I will likely keep on my radar as the one show I watch on my own, and a newly started (as in, I just started watching it, it only has 24-20m eps) anime called "Clannad: After Story" because it is rated one of the top anime story-lines in all of anime.
Now, that still is a lot of TV, right? Yeah, it kind of is. I am hoping to have Clannad finished before the New Year, though (sneak it in before I enforce the rules, strictly), Code Geass only has so many episodes before we finish it as well, and the Walking Dead isn't back on until February. ...so that makes it ~1.5-2 hours a week of TV. When I put it that way, it makes me feel better haha.
Well, if you only knew how many times I have seen Office re-runs, or watched random episodes of random shows. Or the shows that I actually keep up with that I don't even enjoy...New Girl, the Mindy Project. Or shows I enjoy but can live without (although of course I can live without all of them) like Modern Family, Secret Life (YES, I admit it. It's probably the worst show on TV).
I am hoping this fight for self-control will go well. I think I can do it. If I ask God for His power, I know I can. I have a strong belief that after a month of fasting in this way, I will be able to keep this up and maybe even find the shows I desire right now to lose their appeal. That sounds sad to me right now, but if He changes my heart, I will not have any grievances and ultimately it is absolutely no loss to me.
Like a cigarette smoker, giving up a bad habit often needs to be replaced with a similar, yet better habit. (ie chewing on a straw, tending to the oral fixation).
Therefore, since I like to have a show on while I do dishes or knit...the new plan will be listening to sermons or the audio Bible instead. It's honestly silly and stupid this isn't what I do anyway. Instead of streaming an episode of a show before bed, I will read one of the many books on my shelf that have gone untouched over the years.
So I look forward to how this will positively impact my mind, my productivity in general, and my life!
* * *
Speaking of self-control...
Sal and I challenged one another to "no-pop-November" (NPN). It was entirely necessary. I would have to say every week I would challenge myself, fight myself, to stop drinking pop if only for a few days. But I'd probably go a stretch of about 2 days before I drank some of that delicious, syrupy poison (lol). I was tempted on a few occasions, primarily when there were 2L sitting out at social gatherings and it was free! But I resisted, despite really wanting to drink some.
As for NPN? I'd say it was 100% successful. This is not because we did not drink pop at all during the month, (I had pop twice, with these two exceptions already mapped out: once at Thanksgiving, just a small glass of Dr Pepper, and again after an entire day of vomiting and migraines a can of cherry Pepsi---both at the end of the month), rather quite a few things positive things have happened: I don't feel as tired; my skin has cleared up immensely; I don't feel as...bleh...full-like in the gross way pop fills you up, sluggish; I have only had ONE migraine in like 6 weeks (and I know it is attributed to hormones); I don't have a desire to drink pop at all anymore... I'd say all of the above are a result of two things: less pop, and the most important physical "happening" from not drinking pop: drinking a lot of water!!!
I always knew I didn't drink that much water, but I never fully saw how much it affected me. I actually have had 2 other drinks of pop since then...once was a bottle of vanilla coke that I didn't even enjoy and a glass bottle of IBC that I drank about half of. I don't desire pop anymore because of how it makes me feel, knowing how good I can feel without it. I think about the 70 GRAMS of sugar in a small bottle of it and it makes me feel sick. Just something about it makes me turn away from it. I prayed to God to help me get through the month without desiring it, and He has changed my affections toward it. I actually felt somewhat enslaved to it, because I CRAVED it, and felt like I needed it. Like I would go out to the store just to buy a pop because it felt like it "hit the spot" with some meals. Isn't that horrible? I feel like I got over some weird addiction. I don't think I was addicted to its caffeine; rather, just the sugar and the habit.
These days I drink some coffee (no sugar or milk added--never thought I would do this! haha), milk, water. I don't even like juice, honestly. I would rather eat a piece a fruit (which is better for you, even if the juice is 100%). But funny how I never gave so much credit to WATER. We all know we need it to live. God made it for us on the second day...what a simple, beautiful creation. It is so clear (no pun intended) that water would offer an abundance of goodness. It's a simple contribution that we definitely take for granted and under-appreciate.
I am just liking the way I am feeling...more energy, more confidence (acne is pretty much GONE entirely), and happier with my decision and control. Praise God for His Spirit who empowers me and answers my prayers! Nothing is too small for Him, and it's showing me how He listens to all our requests and I love the large impact something so small has on my life.
NPN inspires me not only for what it was set out to do, but the indirect implications of it. I am so joyful to the Lord and grateful for this from Him. It increases my trust in Him and His promises, makes me laugh at myself for the little things in my life that can make such a difference, makes me understand how little things in our life can control us--I was sort of mastered by it, in a way!--and that I need to rely on One and I will be sustained and straightened out, etc etc etc.
* * *
It seems silly to say, these two topics are not inherently bad (pop and TV are not sins!!!), but when we let them take control over a part of our life, it is definitely sin! It's easy to hide because they are just normal things in society. But let's face what is honest here, I was mastered by pop: the craving, the feel like I needed it, the fact that I couldn't go 2 days without giving in. Right now, I don't even know what to consider this TV thing. The more I think about it, I am realizing the sin is not the shows but their distraction. What are your distractions? Instead of being fed the Word, I feel like I need to have this mindless entertainment going on in the background. If there is something in my life that I challenge by saying, "I will do without" but find myself continuing to do, that is probably something that is chaining me down. Instead of TV shows, I can fill the air with productivity...and is getting addicted to His Word or learning about Him a bad thing? I think He's the one thing I WANT to be addicted to. I want to crave my Lord!!! To feel that I can't go a day without Him. Because c'mon, I CAN'T, He is the life inside of me...
My affections toward Him will only increase, sharpening me, and refining what my mind and heart desire.
Psalm 37:3-6
Trust in the Lord, and do good;
dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.
Delight yourself in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the Lord;
trust in him, and he will act.
He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,
and your justice as the noonday.
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