This is a follow up with my adventure into eliminating what wasn't working for me and adding something positive that could be helpful in my life. I did manage to leave behind an online community and now I barely look at the latest threads. People take breaks from some forums; I had to really leave.
I have to remember that in order to grow in my business or in my world, the first place to expand is with myself. And that meant that I had to stop hanging around people with limited beliefs and closed belief systems.
Step One: New Habits of Elimination - Adjusting Holiday Expectations
Our family has started some new traditions in which we eliminate the negative and add some positive. Holidays are a great way to initiate healthy habits - in one way shape or form. Christmas, for example, we plan to serve in various charities instead of focusing on gifts. Yeah, we are still doing the extended family presents and stuff, but lighter more heartfelt presents to one another as a substitute to the madness that usually accompanies the season. We want to teach our children to think beyond themselves and also think about the future. Working and serving is more in the spirit of the season, rather than spending and receiving - at least, in our household. I think its a good habit to start now.
TV Turn Off Week(s)
When we lived in Vermont, our local school sponsored No TV WEEK. Usually this was in the dead of winter while my husband was traveling so while it could have been hellish, the school planned some really cool activities to help us handle the withdrawal symptoms: Carnival, Swimming, Game Night and so on.
So in this season of reflection and renewal, we decided as a family to turn off the TV. Since I already stopped the negative forum addiction, stopping my television habit seemed like a suitable partner in detoxification.
Boy was it hard. At first at least. We have missed The Vikings and The Bible on History channel but I also have to keep the thing off during the day too. No WealthTV (which I love - some cable stations carry it, but I watch mine on the internet - on blu-ray) - lots of documentaries on exotic islands, crazy party mamas and essential shopping in Istanbul. It's like my little bit of traveling in my mind. Watching WealthTV is like pretending I'm traveling to Palm tree lined beaches and sipping an umbrella drink. I need some sun and blue waters in March....even if only for a mind trip.
But not this March. This March we as a family will switch our blu-ray to Pandora and listen to music. For hours. And lucky me, my husband, who normally travels every week for his job, is home this month. Almost like my supervisor. "No TV For YOU!"
Unstuck
But a funny thing happened on my way to utter boredom. I got myself unstuck!
Huh? Unstuck. I started to move in the other direction. As in productivity.
I didn't realize it but there was a big piece of delusion I was carrying around called "productivity". I thought I was being productive, but I was spinning my wheels for months on end agonizing over the simplest of decisions and worry. And then, finally, the television stopped, the forum posts stopped (and my writing stopped too - it was hard to write to an audience I haven't quite found yet - for those here who are reading from the trickle of links you may have found me at thank you for your patience!). But hell, I write to myself all the time in a journal, I might as well start typing right? So I have.
I turned off the television, turned off the forum addiction, turned on my Clockwork Tomato app for twenty minutes and just started working. Working on my blog, working on learning how to sell products on Amazon - from sourcing to creating - and yep - finally FINALLY doing my Quickbooks and sending my damn corporate tax information in.
My daughter, who is aged 9, is now dancing up a storm every night as we try to entertain each other listening to Strauss (Richard, not Johann), Mahler and occasionally Brahms. We allow her to watch youtube videos on the blu-ray on ballet, stretching or fashion and that gives me a break. Husband is now totally addicted to solitaire on his ipad. Oh, we rock, we do. Just prehistorically that is.
Rewards
The rewards for eliminating television for the family are less tangible. My daughter is still wired up each night until 10:30pm, my son watches youtubepoops all the time (and I encourage him - we got him some software and downloaded utubecatcher so he can make his own "poops" for fun) and my husband - well, you know about the solitaire thing. Me? Here is what miraculously happened to me:
I finally am taking a retail sourcing course - which is excellent if you want to learn about the basics in retailing or reselling on different online marketplaces. I finally created my business cards, signed up with Fiverr for a logo, some brand name ideas, and trademark searches. I finally bought a couple of domains for my retail business and am looking up any special licenses I may need to apply for with this business. And I went to my first book sale at my old library and bought some books that will net me barely a profit. Seriously, barely a profit and most at losses, but its my first try. And I have ordered samples for a skin care line I am thinking of starting. So far, I LOVE the skin care. Stay tuned for that one!
I have noticed my daughter finally reading more and turning in her homework. Her attitude has improved and she is really working on her ballet. My son doesn't really watch television that much unless its history and ufo documentaries. We stopped morning news programming last year and my attitude really improved a lot - so we extended the television drought to the whole day - but we catch Morning Joe anyway...that's an addiction that will never go away at least for my husband. Oh, and that solitaire thing.
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