Our Year Without TV - Day 47

Today marks day 47 of our year without television. That's approximately 165 hours saved (based on the average television viewing of normal human beings at 3.5 hours per day). For me it's translated into a few extra books read to the kids, a few extra books read by me ("All the Pretty Horses" and "The Crossing" by Cormac McCarthy, which I've been reading mostly in the evenings in leiu of tv), and some quiet evenings with my wife.

Just last night Maile and I were sitting on the sofa. I was eating Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream and she was reading Born To Run (a book about this dude who, after studying a Mexican tribe and doing some studies, thinks that running barefoot is the way to go).

Maile turned to me and said, "I don't miss television at all." Then she kept reading.

The funny thing is, neither do I. Now that we've been doing other things in the evening for the last 47 days, I don't even think about tv as an option any more.

This makes me wonder . . . are there other pointless activities I am conducting in my life that I should reconsider? Now don't get me wrong - recreational activities are important to our well-being. It seems vital to me that we all do things that help us unwind and recharge.

But, as my good friend Kevin Baugh reminded me once, we often mistake mindless activity for recreational activity. Think about the break down of that word for a moment - recreational - re creational - re creation al - re create. Are your recreational activities literally re-creating you, or are they bringing you down, sapping your mind and wasting your time? You should come out of a recreational activity feeling invigorated and excited, not wasted and lazy.

Maybe today would be a good day to replace one of our deconstructive activities with a recreational one - instead of watching tv, go for a walk; instead of playing video games, read a book to a child; instead of eating a bowl of ice cream, start a journal.

Recreate yourself.