What will I do with all of this time? Television and making new habits.

Well, I’ve jumped on the bandwagon of instagramming/blogging; however, the purpose of this not to change career paths/get sponsors/make money but to give myself a creative outlet that also holds me accountable to continually trying to better myself. I’ve never been able to make journaling in physical notebook a habit but maybe this will be different. I hope to share new ideas, discuss how to make healthy habits/break bad ones and live the best life I can for myself and my family.

Who has noticed that their habits change when they have children? This isn’t something that I gave too much attention to before Elizabeth came along. I knew things would change with a new family member, but I didn’t realize that I would be constantly analyzing every single thing I do around her.

Today I’m thinking about healthy leisure activities.  Geeze, it’s so tempting to sit in front of the television after a long work day (or a long night waking up with a newborn). During my maternity leave, while Elizabeth seemed content sleeping most of the day and wasn’t very aware of her surroundings, this is what we did. We rocked in the rocking chair with the TV on. Now that she is alert and I can see her taking in everything around her, I realize TV IS NOT AN OK OPTION FOR US. Have you ever noticed how babies with stare, enthralled with the television (like some adults do)? Surely, this isn’t the healthiest brain developing activity. Not only do I dislike the idea of Elizabeth watching TV, I don’t want her to grow up with a mom who constantly sits, non-mobile watching the tube, either.

Did you know that the average 15-44 year old American spends 2 hours a day watching television? Assuming that a typical day is 16 hours of awake time, this adds up to FORTY FIVE days per year of watching television. Put another way, people spend 12.5% of their year watching TV. For those over the age of 60, this number is double.

What could we do with all of that time? Learn a new language, learn to cook a new cuisine, re-landscape your yard, [finally start to] exercise, volunteer in your community? I’m still trying to figure out what I want to do. Some of this time will be spent here, writing. The possibilities are endless! What would you do with all the time you could have if television didn’t exist?