Dump Idiot Box Restore Sanity | Bliss for Moms
Dump Idiot Box Restore Sanity
Few years back, I become short-tempered and started having melt-downs for no apparent reason. I was always running even in my dreams. Well, I dreamt of my daughter missing the bus and forgetting her books. My ‘to do’ list was stretching like a rubber band into the Universe with infinite possible tasks.
Then serendipity saved me. How? Well, it was one of those days when negative energy was ruling my stars. Perhaps, I got out of the bed on the literally on the wrong foot and hurt my ankle. While making tea I found out that there were ants on the platform and there was no electricity.
After fighting battles on every threshold of activity around 12 pm, I slumped in a chair with my coffee, ready to watch my favourite show on the television. And then I was in for a rude shock! As I tried to click the T.V. buttons, it refused to co-operate, I tried everything from switching it off and on, using the remote in as many ways I could think of and complaining loudly. Then I called our cable operator. He said everything was fine the problem was with our television set. Well great! I said. I gulped my cold coffee and banged the cup in the sink. It broke to create more work.
Next day, we found out that the new TV set had a defect, and as it was in the warranty period, they would take it to their workshop. It would take 20 days to get it repaired.
T W E N T Y days!! I screamed loudly. What will I do? How will I relax? How will I survive? Believe me, I am not a television addict, but yes, I needed to watch shows to relax, or so I thought.
My life changed completely in the next twenty days. When we received the call that our Television would be coming home soon I smiled a victorious smile as I realised that the TCO (read Time control officer) had lost the job.
Here is the list of take-ways from our twenty day exile-
Stopped Air Hangouts
Many times I watched the TV without really ‘looking’. It was ironical but true. I flipped channels and so did the others without focusing or concentrating on anything. That means literally and figuratively we were hanging in the air. And what did it make me feel? It made me tired, restless and over stimulated my brain. Watching at night gave me an overdose of bluelight and made it difficult to sleep.
I became a great cook. Well, I was a good cook but now as I had time to really taste and relish my food, and I realised that I was indeed a great cook. As we had more time to enjoyed meals, the mealtimes became a wonderful family time.
As my air hangouts stopped I found time to complete my house work and office work on schedule. With less blue light in my system, my brain relaxed, and I visited dreamland in deep refreshing slumber. This made me happy.
With TV out of the house, our books came out of the closets. We have lots of books as we love reading, but with the Time control officer, there was less time to read. The time after dinner became our family reading hour.
My dream of creating a reading nook came true. It doesn’t take much to create a nook, but it is useless if not utilized. Now it exists and is the most frequented space in the house. The nook is just not used for reading but for diverse activities like sketching, scrap booking, listening to music or dreaming.
Yes, on Saturdays and Sundays we cook together. We search for recipes on the Internet (yes, it’s the idiot box’s best friend, but we don’t let it control. us) to find new ways of cooking. It’s fun to look at the common vegetables through a child’s eye, share stories from my grandma’s kitchen, folklore and tales behind cooking methods and rituals.
And this is how I became sane, peaceful and calmer with the idiot box out of my life.
I would like to recommend taking this as a challenge and see what happens. Do share your experiences as comments here or on Facebook.
10 Comments September 2, 2016
It’s amazing the change that you made and you cook together with your family!
Thanks Angela, it feels great to cook together. And suddenly I have more time to enjoy life.
I have to dot his for my kids because they seem to be wanting too much screen time these days….It is winter and they cannot play outside and they feel bored…..But I always sit down and read to them….It is so much better…..Kudos to you on this…..
Thanks for your kind words Sunaina!. Yes, it’s difficult to pursue kids to lessen screen time. Reading is a great way to learn and bond. I love books and reading is so relaxing.
I don’t watch TV. Unless it’s Game Of Thrones. I totally agree that without a TV, the life becomes so much peaceful. These lessons came to me once when my internet died a sudden death. So I know how it must have felt 😉
Many thanks Parul! yes, sometimes life teaches us few lessons in ways we take some time to comprehend how it changes the way we think and act. Life is definitely more peaceful without the background noise.
I so agree with you. We get addicted to these things like tv as well as social media and then realise how much we have wasted our precious time! My tv viewing was less earlier and now it is just one program (Homeland) per day and that too, if I am in the mood. If not, I give it a miss and don’t even feel like I have missed out on something. I also de-addicted myself from Fb some days ago and now use that time in reading good books and fine tuning my culinary skills which leaves me feeling contented and happy.
Thanks Shilpa for your comment. Yes, distractions are too many and addictions thrive. We need to understand and take decision It isn’t easy to get away from social media and congratulations to you for doing so. Happy cooking and reading:)
Recently many of my friends also tried it and told me the same things. Although I do not watch much TV..mostly on weekends. But never tried it completely out of our lives. Maybe I will now 🙂
Thanks Deepa for reading this blog. Try banning TV completely and see . You will surprised.
Dump Idiot Box Restore Sanity | Bliss for Moms
Dump Idiot Box Restore Sanity
Few years back, I become short-tempered and started having melt-downs for no apparent reason. I was always running even in my dreams. Well, I dreamt of my daughter missing the bus and forgetting her books. My ‘to do’ list was stretching like a rubber band into the Universe with infinite possible tasks.
Then serendipity saved me. How? Well, it was one of those days when negative energy was ruling my stars. Perhaps, I got out of the bed on the literally on the wrong foot and hurt my ankle. While making tea I found out that there were ants on the platform and there was no electricity.
After fighting battles on every threshold of activity around 12 pm, I slumped in a chair with my coffee, ready to watch my favourite show on the television. And then I was in for a rude shock! As I tried to click the T.V. buttons, it refused to co-operate, I tried everything from switching it off and on, using the remote in as many ways I could think of and complaining loudly. Then I called our cable operator. He said everything was fine the problem was with our television set. Well great! I said. I gulped my cold coffee and banged the cup in the sink. It broke to create more work.
Next day, we found out that the new TV set had a defect, and as it was in the warranty period, they would take it to their workshop. It would take 20 days to get it repaired.
T W E N T Y days!! I screamed loudly. What will I do? How will I relax? How will I survive? Believe me, I am not a television addict, but yes, I needed to watch shows to relax, or so I thought.
My life changed completely in the next twenty days. When we received the call that our Television would be coming home soon I smiled a victorious smile as I realised that the TCO (read Time control officer) had lost the job.
Here is the list of take-ways from our twenty day exile-
Stopped Air Hangouts
Many times I watched the TV without really ‘looking’. It was ironical but true. I flipped channels and so did the others without focusing or concentrating on anything. That means literally and figuratively we were hanging in the air. And what did it make me feel? It made me tired, restless and over stimulated my brain. Watching at night gave me an overdose of bluelight and made it difficult to sleep.
I became a great cook. Well, I was a good cook but now as I had time to really taste and relish my food, and I realised that I was indeed a great cook. As we had more time to enjoyed meals, the mealtimes became a wonderful family time.
As my air hangouts stopped I found time to complete my house work and office work on schedule. With less blue light in my system, my brain relaxed, and I visited dreamland in deep refreshing slumber. This made me happy.
With TV out of the house, our books came out of the closets. We have lots of books as we love reading, but with the Time control officer, there was less time to read. The time after dinner became our
 family reading hour.
My dream of creating a reading nook came true. It doesn’t take much to create a nook, but it is useless if not utilized. Now it exists and is the most frequented space in the house. The nook is just not used for reading but for diverse activities like sketching, scrap booking, listening to music or dreaming.
Yes, on Saturdays and Sundays we cook together. We search for recipes on the Internet (yes, it’s the idiot box’s best friend, but we don’t let it control. us) to find new ways of cooking. It’s fun to look at the common vegetables through a child’s eye, share stories from my grandma’s kitchen, folklore and tales behind cooking methods and rituals.
And this is how I became sane, peaceful and calmer with the idiot box out of my life.
I would like to recommend taking this as a challenge and see what happens. Do share your experiences as comments here or on Facebook.
10 Comments September 2, 2016
It’s amazing the change that you made and you cook together with your family!
Thanks Angela, it feels great to cook together. And suddenly I have more time to enjoy life.
I have to dot his for my kids because they seem to be wanting too much screen time these days….It is winter and they cannot play outside and they feel bored…..But I always sit down and read to them….It is so much better…..Kudos to you on this…..
Thanks for your kind words Sunaina!. Yes, it’s difficult to pursue kids to lessen screen time. Reading is a great way to learn and bond. I love books and reading is so relaxing.
I don’t watch TV. Unless it’s Game Of Thrones. I totally agree that without a TV, the life becomes so much peaceful. These lessons came to me once when my internet died a sudden death. So I know how it must have felt 😉
Many thanks Parul! yes, sometimes life teaches us few lessons in ways we take some time to comprehend how it changes the way we think and act. Life is definitely more peaceful without the background noise.
I so agree with you. We get addicted to these things like tv as well as social media and then realise how much we have wasted our precious time! My tv viewing was less earlier and now it is just one program (Homeland) per day and that too, if I am in the mood. If not, I give it a miss and don’t even feel like I have missed out on something. I also de-addicted myself from Fb some days ago and now use that time in reading good books and fine tuning my culinary skills which leaves me feeling contented and happy.
Thanks Shilpa for your comment. Yes, distractions are too many and addictions thrive. We need to understand and take decision It isn’t easy to get away from social media and congratulations to you for doing so. Happy cooking and reading:)
Recently many of my friends also tried it and told me the same things. Although I do not watch much TV..mostly on weekends. But never tried it completely out of our lives. Maybe I will now 🙂
Thanks Deepa for reading this blog. Try banning TV completely and see . You will surprised.