Sewing March | The rules

My new challenge/experiment will be about... Sewing!

I like to sew and I even have a tiny Etsy shop, but since I started this new job I haven't sewn at all. The thing is, I feel like this job sucks most of my energy (and will power). Everything else now requires more conscious effort - like exercising, sewing, decluttering, etc.

So this challenge will be simple: I must work on a sewing project for at least 15 minutes each day. The exceptions will be those few days in which, for some valid reason, I can't really do it.

My first project will be to work on a very simple blouse I started last summer. It's really simple because it's the first piece of clothing that I try to do!

This time, instead of writing here everyday, I'll write only every other day.

See you on Thursday, then!

Decluttering February | The rules

It's finally time to share my challenge for the next month! February will be all about decluttering. Since I'm kind of an aspiring minimalist, I was very careful with what I brought with me when I moved to this apartment five months ago  - however, I can already start to feel things accumulating and getting a little bit out of control... I really need to purge some stuff and create a decluttering routine that works for me.

So, what will be the rules for this challenge? The rules are very simple:

- I'll declutter at least 15 minutes each day.
- I'll share what I decluttered each day (these posts will be brief, most of the times, with just a report of what I did and maybe a picture here and there).
- If, fore some reason, I can't do it on a certain day, I'll have to compensate on another day.

Even though the minimum is 15 minutes, I hope I'll end up decluttering for longer each day (yes, I tend to enjoy purging and organizing!). And I'll start with the home office, which, at the moment, is the most critic room.

See you tomorrow!

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 good sign

I feel like I'm getting very repetitive, so maybe next month I won't write every day - maybe just every other day.

In this case, I believe that being repetitive is a good sign - it means that not watching TV has become normal and uneventful. I don't even think about it!

The month is slowly coming to an end, and I have two or three ideas for my next challenge (I haven't decided yet). I'm eager to start a new challenge! But before the month ends, I'll sum up this no TV experience - and I'll share how my relationship with TV will be from the next month on.

Until tomorrow!

January without TV | Oops...

So, today... I did it again! I lost myself in YouTube. I was really craving some mindless entertainment and ended up watching video after video after video.

So, even though I'll try not to do it again during this month, maybe the lesson here is that we all need mindless entertainment once in a while. Right?...

See you tomorrow!

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 | Maybe my mood is being affected

I'm not feeling very good right now, even though my mood was fairly positive during the day. Maybe yesterday I was being too optimistic. Maybe my mood is being affected by the lack of TV. Maybe not being able to turn it on on the days I'm working from home does make me feel more lonely and bored. We have to remember that one of my rules was not to use the internet to replace the TV, and my internet usage lately has been very limited (I use it all day for work, and then at the end of the day the last thing I feel like doing is to sit in front of the computer and surf the web). So, at this precise moment I'm feeling this intense craving for mindless entertainment - how do I get that without the TV or youtube funny videos? How??...

Anyway, I'll hold on strong. My main curiosity is to see where this will take me. Will boredom motivate me to do something different? (Of course, it has already, in small ways.)

Night night.

My first experiment: January without TV

Hi!

I'm 33 years old, and you can call me Mopsa. This blog will be a space for me to journal about all the life experiments I'll be conducting in 2017.

There are certain habits that I would like to change and certain new things that I would like to try in my life - but as you all probably know, positive change isn't something that tends to happen automatically or without effort... So I thought that maybe conducting monthly experiments during the next year would be a good way to bring some change into my life.

January will be my month without TV - yes, you read that well! Even though I don't consider myself a TV addict, I do think that TV has become a very comfortable way to escape my life. It is my default go-to place when I'm not busy with work or house chores... And, of course, there are other more enriching activities that I would like to spend my time with - such as reading, writing, sewing, exercising...

So... Let's try this! In January I won't watch TV, with the following exceptions:

- I can watch a pre-planned movie (or other TV show) with my boyfriend - we live together and we don't do this often, but when we do it's kind of a nice at-home date;
- At dinner we usually have the TV on to watch the news, and this will not change - this will be my main opportunity to know whats going on in the world, since I don't read newspapers or the news online (and I'm not on any social media).

Finally, it's important to note that I cannot use the internet to replace the TV, but I can turn the radio on. And I can listen to audio-books.

I will write here everyday to journal my experience. I must write something everyday, even if just one sentence.

Despite the exceptions, I don't think that this will be easy. It will probably be quite hard! But I'm curious about how I'll be spending my time without this very seductive distraction. ;)

See you tomorrow!