Hello 2014. Declaration of Intent.

New Year's resoloutions?  Yeah, sure, I have a list as long as my arm of things I would like to improve.  But let's be honest.  Everyone knows that the grand, sweeping, unrealisitic, poorly thought-out resolutions traditionally made at this time of year are usually long forgotten by February.  This year I have come up with just one simple thing that I am doing, and I hope that it will improve my life in all areas.  Maybe even in ways that I can't predict.  It's not actually even a New Year's resolution, per se, since I came up with it in November, and vowed to follow through with it at Yule.

Over the last I-don't-even-know-how-many years, I have fallen into a bad habit.  This one thing, that I do every single day, takes up a large percentage of my non-working hours, cuts into my sleep time and prevents me from doing other, more productive activities.  

"Hello.  My name is Marne, and I am a television junkie."

I watch too much tv.  When I sat down last November and calculated how much time I am actually wasting watching tv, I was honestly shocked.  30 to 40 hours a week!  No wonder I always feel like I don't have time to do things!   I was reminded of the bridge of Flanders and Swann's "The Sloth" song.  The song is from an album my parents used to have when I was a kid, and I remember listening to it often one summer at the cottage.  I'll write the relevant lyrics here, but the entire song is well worth a listen.  If you have the time.

I could,

climb the very highest Himalayas,

be among the greatest ever tennis players,

win at chess, or marry a princess,

or study hard and be an eminent professor.

I could,

be a millionaire, play the clarinet,

travel everywhere,

learn to cook, catch a crook,

win a war and write a book about it.

I could paint a Mona Lisa.

I could be another Caesar;

compose an oratorio that was sublime.

The door's not shut

on my genius,  but,

I just don't have the time.

Imagine what I could do with those 30 to 40 hours a week!  The thought resonated with me so much that I cut way back on my tv watching that very day.  I have a lot of ideas of things I want to do, now that I have found so much time, but none of these things are my resolution.  My resolution is to watch much less tv and find out how that one change affects everything else.

Oh, don't imagine I'm giving up television entirely!  That's just crazy talk!  What I am doing is being very selective about what I watch, and when.  No tv on weeknights.  On weekends I will only be watching the shows I really love, the ones that actually add to my life.  No more will turning on the boob tube be the default any time I don't have anything else I have to be doing.  I am already seeing the benefits of this decision. I am cooking more, I am working on a piece of cross-stitching I've been trying to finish for 7 years and, oh look, I started a blog.

Sloth no more!  I am ready to grab my life and do something with it!

*January 1st clip art courtesy of Pam's Clip Art

*sloth clip art courtesy of Clker.com