First, welcome to the brand new Karenesque! I used to have my iWeb website on this page, but Apple is going to be discontinuing that feature starting June 30st, 2012 - so I had to think of something else to use for this domain quickly. I had been thinking about starting a "normal" blog where I could post my thoughts even when I wasn't traveling or visiting fun places. Travelingkaren.com is great (check it out), but it always felt like a lie if I posted something in it if I wasn't "traveling". I mean, it is called travelingkaren.
Because it isn't a travel blog, I won't have as many pictures and video on this page, but it will (hopefully... if I keep it up) be a place where I can put "every day" posts and other random musings.
I decided to kick off this blog with a 30-day experiment. For 30 days, I am banning myself from Facebook, texting, and television. These three things have been eating up an incredible amount of time in my life. I have so many ideas of things that I want to get done, but I never seem to find the time to do them. If I can still make the excuse "I don't have time" in these 30 days, I will know that I'm actually not too busy, I am just very lazy.
You may be wondering why I came to the decision that FB and texting were just as much of a problem as television. Most people who know me well have commented that I rarely have my phone out of my hand. If I am not texting someone or reading texts, I am checking Facebook. I find myself picking up my phone to check Facebook when I am at red lights, when there is a lull in conversation, or just if I feel bored at work. I am quite sure that I check Facebook upwards of 20 times a day. It's the first thing I do in the morning while I am lying in bed, and the last thing I do before setting my alarm for the next morning. It is completely ridiculous, believe me, I know. I find myself automatically clicking on the Facebook icon on my phone even if I originally picked up my phone to check the weather or my mail. It is a terrible habit! I even find myself thinking things like "Karen Hahn likes this" when I hear an interesting story. Yes, this is how you know you have a problem.
Television is probably the biggest time-eater of all. I will get home from work and flip on the TV for the background noise, but then I get engrossed in what's on. Things I want to get done while having the TV on as "background noise" might still get done... but at a much, much slower pace than what they should take. I would tell myself, "well, I'm tired from working all day! I deserve to be able to just relax." This is true, I should be able to relax, but when I was younger (even 5-10 years ago), I hardly ever watched TV to relax. I would pick up a book, or write a story, or work on a video way before I thought to grab the remote. Now, I haven't written in years, and have been reading the same book for months when I know I could easily finish it in weeks.
Texting takes up the least time of the three, but it will probably be the hardest for me to do without. I wanted to add it to my month-long experiment because I often find myself being distracted from actual conversation because I am texting with people who are not physically there with me. I feel I have not been an attentive conversationalist because of texting. This is incredibly rude, and I hate when people do that to me - so on the list it went!
I am hoping that this experiment will result in me being a lot more productive with my time, and when my complete ban of TV, texting, and Facebook comes to an end, I hope that I will make these things a much smaller part of my life moving forward.
There are three major things that I want to work on during this month -
1) I want to start writing again... not just blogging, but I want to begin writing an actual novel. Maybe I will start slow and write a couple of short stories to begin with, but writing anything will be a start.
2) I have an idea for a video, which I have been meaning to create for my sisters' children for years. Hopefully this will be the month I get it off the ground.
3) Oh there are so many books I have purchased and have not yet read! This is the laziest of my three goals, so I have no doubt I will have a good chunk of these books read by the end of the month. I already finished one today, on only my first day!
A few other things I want to do - start up yoga again... and maybe join an exercise class like kickboxing or Tai Chi or a martial arts class. I also want to start volunteering again. I had been doing quite a bit of volunteering on the weekends a couple years ago, but I stopped when I felt I was getting too busy.
That's pretty much the background story. As far as how the first day went... I did find myself reaching for my phone to check my texts and Facebook out of habit, but stopped myself in time. Luckily I deleted the facebook app from my phone and turned off all notifications for texting, so I won't "accidentally" find myself checking one or the other while I am sitting in traffic or at a red light. There were a few times during the day when something interesting happened and I really wanted to text or FB to tell everyone... but I restrained myself. For this month, if I decide that something is really that interesting, it will be email or actual phone calls all the way! As far as TV goes, when I got home from work I had errands to run so I didn't really miss watching that... but I am sure I will miss it in the coming weeks - especially after a stressful work day. Thank goodness for music and NPR!
That is all for today. I will be out all day tomorrow so I am not sure I will have a blog post, but I will update you all on Sunday!
Tahtah for now!
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