Decluttering February | Digital clutter - day 22

To anyone who may be reading this: I'm sorry, this blog has likely been terribly boring this month. Since I'm using it mainly as a way to (briefly) journal my experience this year, I haven't been very careful with creating engaging posts. I hope you understand my main goal here... Doing this in a blog format helps to motivate me - I feel like someone is 'watching', so I must be good and persist on my experiments! And, of course, maybe someone may find some inspiration in what I'm doing - which is also a nice motivator.

Anyway, this has been another day of digital decluttering. But I may be reaching the limit to what I can delete from my ancient laptop. Which means that I'll be soon tackling my external disk.

Bye bye!

January without TV | New TV rules

Today I'll share my new 'rules' for watching TV in the following months. I can watch TV (phew!), but... I'll do my best not to do it mindlessly. I won't turn it on just to have something in the background keeping me company - I won't turn it on while preparing meals, for example. When I do turn it on, I won't watch 'trash TV', and I'll be mindful of what I chose to watch. In fact, I think that my new 'rule' is simple: I'll be more mindful.

See you tomorrow :)

January without TV | A brief month review

Even though I still have two more days to go, today I'll make a brief review of my month without TV.

So... How did it went and what did I learn? Was it worth it?

- At first it was hard - so hard that at a certain point I considered giving up!
- Then it got easier, and easier, until I didn't even think about TV throughout my days.
- I did lose myself in YouTube world a couple of times (even though one of my rules was to not replace mindless TV with mindless internet...).
- I replaced TV watching with silence (frequently, while doing house chores), music, radio, podcasts, reading, playing with Mia, and chatting with B.
- In fact, I spent more time with B. in the evenings, which was nice.
- Simple activities became more pleasant than they used to be and the evenings seemed longer.
- However, I didn't become super productive in the evenings (as I secretly wished I would!) - because, despite the absence of TV, I was still tired after a day's work.

Well, overall I'm really glad I decided to try this challenge. I think that the most surprising thing was to arrive at a point where I no longer missed TV - that, to me, was unexpected! I also learned that TV was not the only thing keeping me from doing productive things in the evenings (like sewing) and that being tired is probably a major factor...

Next month I'll be watching TV again, but not as mindlessly as I used to. I'll share the new 'rules' of TV watching tomorrow.

Bye bye!

January without TV | Mindless Internet

Today I kind of cheated - not because I watched TV (which I didn't), but because I watched many YouTube videos. As I shared before, I didn't want to replace mindless TV with mindless Internet, but I did lose myself in the YouTube world today.

Anyway, I'll do my best not to let that happen again.

Until tomorrow!

January without TV | What were my guilty pleasures?

Today I worked from home, but the lack of TV didn't bother me much. I still miss it during lunch, but I've been listening to a radio program that - besides being interesting - helps me feel less lonely. It's basically an interview program with all kinds of creative people. It's certainly better than "Celebrity wife swap". Yes, sometimes I watched that!

By the way, I haven't shared the TV shows that I like to watch. My favorite in the last months was "House rules" (I've conveniently chosen a period when that show is in between seasons to do this challenge, I confess...). I like to watch pretty much everything related to houses and house renovations and decor. I also watch TV series like "Game of Thrones", "The Walking Dead", "The Big Bang Theory"... Anyway, I will go back to some of my favorite TV shows after this month - my aim will just be to spend less time in front of the TV and to be more mindful and selective when doing it.

Well, it's late now. Night night!

 

January without TV | The simple activities

Today I worked away from home and so, as expected, I didn't miss the TV. I can even say that, in the evening, I actually enjoyed folding and ironing the clothes in silence. There was something meditative about it...

As you've probably noticed, this month is not about trying to force myself to replace the TV with any particular activity. My point is just to see what naturally happens without the TV. So far I haven't done anything particularly 'special' with my time. But I've noticed that I tend to appreciate more the simple activities that frequently are done mindlessly and/or in a hurry - like simple house chores, chatting with B. (the boyfriend), playing with Mia (the cat), or taking a bath. Oh, and I've been reading more. So, so far, this has been a positive experience.

See you tomorrow!