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ZenBlue

No Tv For 30 Days!

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Inspired by this video:

 

 

I recently came to the realization that I have developed an addiction for TV over the past 10+ years. In the past, TV wasn't an issue because I didn't have access to cable, and was restricted from watching by my parents. Then sometime in my late teens I discovered that I could find any TV show I wanted to watch on the internet. From then on I watched hours upon hours of TV shows. For me, watching TV became an obsession and I could see no end to how many shows I could watch.

Yea I know it sounds kind of silly to say I have a TV addiction, but the truth is that it is real. The truth is that it had a serious negative impact on me and my life. There was a time not too long ago that I would probably watch 5+ hours of TV every single day, 7 days a week. I neglected a lot of things in my life just so that I could sit alone and watch as much TV as I want.

For this challenge I will not watch any TV shows for 30 days. I decided movies are ok, YouTube is ok and will be used mainly for education, music, and motivation. General Internet videos are ok as well. Just no TV shows are allowed.

Day 1 was yesterday, and today is day 2. So far so good, but I have felt many urges to watch TV. I can only assume it will be harder to sustain this over the next few days.

Edited by ZenBlue

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You'll be fine. In my experience, getting rid of TV not just for 30 days but as a lifetime decision is actually one of the easiest personal development challenges. After that, there are so many more hurdles you have to jump through that are significantly more demanding of your willpower and discipline. Getting rid of TV seems like nothing after you've encountered these harder challenges that I'm talking about.

But don't worry about that, focus on the present. Focus on the challenge now! So, you've decided to kick your TV habit that's wasting hours of your time. Be careful that your ego does not put you into an equally addictive and time-wasting activity. What matters here is not getting rid of TV but breaking bad routine so you can replace it with good habits.

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@Extreme Z7 - Yup you're right I have to be careful not to slip into equally addictive, time-wasters. For me TV is one of the more difficult things for me to get rid of, hence the part about it being an addiction.

What are the other challenges you are talking about?


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1 hour ago, ZenBlue said:

What are the other challenges you are talking about?

  • Getting Really Good at Meditation
  • Building Mindfulness or Pure Awareness of your Perceived Reality
  • Strategizing What's It Going To Take To Make Big Life Changes
  • Delaying Gratification
  • Getting Rid of the Addiction of "Doing"
  • Getting Rid of the Addiction of "Thinking"
  • Getting Comfortable Doing Stuff That Is Radically Different From What Modern Society Does
  • Getting Comfortable With Loneliness
  • Getting Comfortable With Being In The Spotlight
  • Losing Your Sense Of Self

    And those are just the first things that come to mind, there are so much more I can list. I myself still have not fully mastered the principles needed to even get close to solving any of these problems.

    But again, don't worry about this now. You'll cross these bridges when you get there. Personal Development takes a lifetime commitment. I've been without television for about a year and a half now and it feels like it wasn't even the beginning of the true difficulties of this commitment.

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@Extreme Z7 That's a good list for me to keep in mind as I progress through my journey. Thanks!

Today is day 4. So far I have been good about not watching TV. Yesterday at work my coworker was watching a show on his phone right next to me. I took some glances because I could hear the audio, but overall I did not actively watch the entire show.

Yesterday I resumed an online basic JavaScript course that I took a break from for 2 months.

Even though this challenge is for 30 days, ultimately my main goal is to eliminate TV for good

I had an introspective moment yesterday. I started to think about the first time I got so hooked on TV. I was just a child when I got my first taste of TV. I vaguely remember the feelings I had when I used to watch TV as a child. The feelings for me were very a intense euphoria and a strong stimulation that gave me a certain high. I must have subconsciously carried that feeling with me throughout life and constantly chased that high through the shows I watched.


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@ZenBlue Nice to read those awesome things from you. I get how you feel about TV because I was like that as a child before with video games. I still play video games though but I almost never exceed more than half and hour of playtime per day, usually just 10 minutes. Problem with TV though is that it expects you to waste hours of your time to get any sense of satisfaction from it.

Hope this is going to make some major life trajectory changes for you. There's so much more out there to discover for yourself.

Currently I'm studying about stress and how stress works. Like actually deeply trying to get an understanding of it. I probably wouldn't even care about it if I spent hours of my time lazily sitting in front of a TV screen or playing video games.

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Thanks @Extreme Z7 , yea in moderation all of this isn't bad, but I can't control myself to be moderate so I just need to cut it out for good. I think playing video games is a step up from TV because at least you have to actively participate. The good type of video games can be the ones that make you think and help develop your ability to strategize and think creatively.

Day 5 - Still going strong. I feel like if I can cut TV out for good then I will have major improvements in my mental health which will then have a positive effect on every aspect of my life. I'm worried that I might slip if I'm not careful and begin an endless cycle of binging on TV.

Side Note: For the most part of my life, writing has come naturally to me. I used to read a lot of books as a kid so I think that helped, but for some reason I have been really good at writing from an early age. Teachers would always make comments throughout my life on how good my writing is. I never really thought that I enjoyed writing because I associated it with doing homework. Now I realize I actually do enjoy writing if I am writing about topics that interest me. I never considered it a passion, but since it is one of my natural talents, it may be worth it for me to start writing a lot more as a side hobby.


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Day 6 - Feeling great so far!

I've been doing a lot more reflecting lately. I feel so much calmer and more at ease without TV in my life. I just realized how much of my life I wasted watching TV. I cringe thinking about the thousands upon thousands of hours I spent sitting in front of the screen like a zombie, mindlessly watching show after show.

I also just realized I haven't properly introduced myself yet.

Hey guys, my name is Phil. I'm 27 years old, and I have been interested in self-development for the past 9 years, but I've only just been taking it more seriously the past 3 years.

It's been quite a great journey so far. I've had a lot of ups and downs in my life. I want to commit myself to self-actualization, and will continue to grow and improve as person until the day I die.


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@ZenBlue You don't have to cringe about mechanical/automatic habits you've had in the past. If your conscious of it, you can work to make your future less mechanical and more intention-driven.

I'm 19 years old, I've only been doing personal development for over a year. My biggest regret in my younger years is not that I spent most of it playing video games but that I spent almost all my free time being a daydreamer. I'd daydream about all sorts ideas for cartoon shows, video games, comics, but I was so completely unaware that I wasn't actually doing anything. My younger self was always focused on quick stimulation and the older I got the quicker and better stimulation I demanded until I suddenly had an existential panic attack at 18. It came out of nowhere.

I think I mentioned this in my Actualization Journal, I was so confused and so lost that I searched "What is Happiness?" on YouTube. That's when I found Leo's work, that's when the trajectory of my life completely changed.

I look back at those days and notice just how robotic and clueless I was. I assume you can relate to that very much. Everyday of my life now is trying to learn how to realize all the ideas I had in my daydreams. This is why I also commit myself to self-actualization.

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@Extreme Z7 Hey man nothing wrong with being a day dreamer as long as you take action at some point. A lot of the things we have right now all started with a dream.

You are miles ahead of your peers man. You are still very young, and you will shift and grow a lot as a person. Around age 23-25 you will probably have some type of life changing experience that will shift your world forever (Might be a painful experience though). Even though I also started learning about personal development at 18, I never took it seriously. Sounds like you are on the right path.

Day 7  - Still going strong! Feeling really fucking tired today. Just physically drained mostly. I've had very strong urges to watch TV. In the past I would always cave in to these urges by telling myself just one episode couldn't hurt. Next thing I know 3 hours would pass and I would still be watching TV.

The difference now is that I made a conscious decision for zero TV. That alone makes a huge difference in me not caving in to my urges.

What I've Been Doing Instead of Watching TV

  • Writing in my personal blog
  • Watching more of Leo's videos
  • Spending time on the Actualized.org forum
  • Playing a few video games here and there
  • Doing a lot of introspective thinking

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@ZenBlue Thanks. Despite trying to find the right paths in life, I still feel very lost. Still feel very naive about a lot of things. Leo talks about the first years of personal development being just prep work for the real thing so I might not have even truly begun my journey yet. Well, good luck with your TV habit changing challenge.

Personally, I think TV is not inherently harmful. The chimpery of mainstream modern society is. TV is just like a funnel for the bullshit keeping society in groupthink. Cartoons are pretty okay though but still not perfectly devoid of chimpery. But I'm probably just saying that because I spent most of my TV time watching western cartoons even at my teens.

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@Extreme Z7 We all feel lost from time to time. I still have a lot of those moments now, so don't worry, you will find many moments of clarity through out your life. Slowly the puzzle pieces will start to snap into place as you progress.

Yup, I agree TV isn't harmful if you can watch in moderation. For me, I have trouble with moderation. Watching a few shows here and there won't hurt you, but if that's mostly what you do day after day then it will start to have a negative impact.


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Day 8 - Damn can you believe that this is the longest I've gone without watching any TV for maybe at least the past 5+ years?

I have been good at distracting myself with other things so that I don't think about TV. I finally finished a big blog post today. I'm just made an update on a side project I'm working on. I also got inspired with a new business idea.

So far the journey has been great. I am excited to see how I feel at the end of 30 days. I'm thinking now that maybe I should do this for an entire year.


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@ZenBlue You haven't been without TV for any longer than a week? That's surprising even to me.

Actually when I think about it, I'm going to make a confession that I have probably never spent a day of my life without TV. It's not that I still actively watch TV everyday, it's that I still live in a household where there are other people who spend hours watching TV everyday. My bedroom is next door to my brother's bedroom which has a TV but mine doesn't and I every night I can hear my brother watching TV 'til 11 o'clock. Every breakfast, lunch, and dinner, my parents love to watch TV in the dining room so I have to actively will myself not to look at it. Even as I type this in my room, I can hear the dining room TV downstairs as my father washes the dishes. It's not a nightmare but it's so far away from living a life truly without TV having some sort of effect.

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What is it that makes us so dependent on certain things i sometimes wonder.

I don´t watch tv for 10years but everyone has different addictions i guess.

It is not realy about watching no tv, it is about beeing stronger than your addictions.

:)

 

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@Extreme Z7 Oh yea I get what you mean. It's tough when the people around you are constantly watching TV, but at least you seem to be able to control your watching habits.

@Falk Yes, definitely being stronger than your addictions is the way to beat them. Hmm I'm not sure about how and why we get addicted to things, but yea it sucks when it happens. I didn't realize or acknowledge TV was a problem for me, until I watched Leo's video and it opened my eyes to just how bad my problem had gotten.

Day 9 - Saw a glimpse of TV when I went to my parents house and my sister was watching TV. I didn't actively watch, but it still did catch my attention for a minute. I'm able to keep up with my goal because I am distracting myself with a lot of other things to replace my TV habit. I'm still glad I've been able to keep up so far. Maintaining awareness of my thoughts and actions have been key to getting me this far.

I never thought I would say this, but I'm glad I decided to cut TV from my life. The next challenge is making sure I don't slip back into my bad habits.


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@Falk Agreed, I would be lying if I said I no longer have addictions just because I've stopped watching TV. There are still a lot of habits in my life I'm not supposed to have. I still have a lot of work to do.

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Day 10 - Tv = 0            Me = 10

Just 20 more days to go. Although, I would like to make this a permanent change.

I recently realized I hadn't been showing as much gratitude for my life as I should have. Sure, it's not perfect, but it's still a great life. I have been blessed with so much already. I have to learn that money doesn't = wealth. Being grateful for what you have and truly valuing all the good things in your life will make you feel wealthy despite how much money you actually have.

Being a healthy individual and having a fully functioning body is a blessing that many people take for granted.


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Day 11 - TV = 0        Me = 11

Today I've been irritable all day. I don't know why, but I just had a lot of negative energy inside for most of the day.

As soon as I got home I had strong urge to watch TV. I decided to watch a movie to help distract me for a bit. Overall i noticed i especially want to zone out and watch TV when i feel stressed, or down.


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@ZenBlue Very much like me before personal development and my lower self today with personal development.

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