30 Day Challenge: Television
I aspire to be a creator of content. There are books that are inside of me… music that’s inside of me… performances that are inside of me just waiting to be released. I’ve come to realize that the indiscriminate consumption of other people’s content (re: television) keeps my own content forever locked inside of me. I will never finish the book, or write those songs, or be the actor/musician/teacher/whatever else I can be as long as I continue to allow television to be a part of my life.
I’m not saying that television is inherently bad. At a basic level it is simply a type of content delivery system. What is bad is when that content drowns out the voices inside my head.
That’s right… I hear voices inside my head. A point of fact is that we all hear voices inside our heads. We each have a unique inner voice that’s desperately trying to be heard. We stifle that voice with food. We stifle that voice with drugs & alcohol. We stifle that voice by listening to the voices of others (our parents, our peers, our critics…) that continually bounce around between our ears. Watching television is just another way to quiet the creative force inside of us. We do it because creativity can be scary.
I can’t afford (literally) to be afraid anymore. The jig is up, and I either let go of T.V. and listen to those voices in my head, or continue on as I have been and live a life that borders between desperation and mediocrity. I choose the voices.
So, here’s the challenge:
For the next 30 days, I will replace watching television with the following activities:
- Reading
- Practicing
- Exercise
- Project work
- Quality time with M.
- “me-time” in the form of artists dates (or Field Trips, if you prefer)
- Working on my acting skills
- Taking classes (yoga, dance, acting, fitness, etc.)
- Working some type of day gig
- Watching a DVD
- Watching individual episodes of the Sopranos, B.S.G., or This Old House (I consider watching a DVD or individual episodes of show’s I’ve taped a much more discriminating use of the content delivery system we call “the television”. The time is focused and isn’t the channel surfing, mind numbing, inner voice silencing activity that I’m trying to avoid with this challenge. It’s recreational time that I give to myself.)
- Whatever else the voices tell me to do
I think that the wording of this challenge is quite important. It’s an active challenge, and in the strictest sense what I’m doing for the 30 days are the activities I’ve listed above. I’m not giving up something, only to have a huge void in my life. I’m replacing one activity with other activities that are more fulfilling and more in tune with the direction I want my life to go. Now when I hear the voices in my head, I’ll listen to them and I’ll take action.
This 30 Day Challenge doesn’t mean that I have to give up T.V. forever. As with all the challenges, I’m simply trying out a habit that I think I might want to make a conditioned part of my life. After 30 days I’ll check-in and see where I’m at. I’ll track things here.
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30 Day Challenge guidelines can be found here.
30 Day Challenge: Television Replacement
Start date: Friday, 6/16/06
Check-in date: Saturday, 7/15/06