I grew up in a large family in a rural are, and while there was a TV in my parents' room with basic cable, my siblings and I were rarely allowed to watch it. So when I went to college, one of the first things I got for my new apartment was a (hand-me-down) TV. When I got my first "real" job, one of the first things I bought was a new, fancy TV. Later upgraded to an even fancier TV with a serious home theater system including surround sound, whatever the newest movie player was at the time, and so on. Being a home theater geek and watching lots of TV and movies essentially became part of my identity. Over the years, as I've moved and changed jobs and downsized and gotten other hobbies, I've still hauled that huge plasma TV and fancy surround sound system around with me, even if all I did was watch Netflix re-runs on it. No matter what other possessions I would re-evaluate and sell or donate, I always felt that the TV and stereo was "off limits" and I would have it forever.
Until last weekend, when I went to view a (relatively) small potential apartment, and fell in love with it, and upon considering a move there realized there was no way that I would be able to move there and keep my TV. And it started off a chain of thought which ended with the recognition that while yes, technically I was still watching TV, what I was really doing was spending mindless hours staring at re-runs of shows I'd already seen while thoughtlessly snacking on junk food out of habit. And that instead of watching TV, I could be reading all those books (my original entertainment love) which had been piling up in my Kindle over the years, or improving my cooking skills, or going for walks or taking day trips. So I unplugged the TV, and listed it on Craigslist, and shoved it into the hallway so I wouldn't be tempted to plug it back in.
The past week, waiting for the TV to find a new home, was a bit of up and down as I wanted to find a "good" home for the TV and had multiple people back out of the pickup, but on the other hand I was getting such better sleep and relaxation when I spent my evening hours reading books or doing yoga (via iPad video) or on the rare occasion I watched a show on my iPad, I would actually focus on watching the show instead of zoning out with TV playing and mindless internet surfing on the iPad.
Today, the TV and stereo system finally went off to a new home, and for the first time in 20 years I don't own one. And while partly it hasn't quite sunk in yet, it also feels really freeing to not have that HUGE distracting object taking up so much of my space and mental energy.
I still have a lot more sorting to do (mostly in terms of storage) before I can move to that tiny apartment I loved, but today was a huge step towards it and it feels really good.
Submitted January 20, 2018 at 04:01PM by AlexTakeTwo http://ift.tt/2DSzUZi
