Why I Don’t Watch TV

“Did you hear about Obama, Michael Jackson,  Air France, (or whatever the hot topic of the moment is)?”

“No,” I reply.”

“It was all over the news and on TV.” 

“I don’t listen to the news or watch TV.”

It’s at this point I often get a puzzled look and follow-up questions, like: “How can you not stay up on what’s going on in the world?”

Here’s my theory…

If it’s important, I will hear about it from family, friends, or on my Internet home page.

I’m on a mission to transform my life. I want to get fit, write bestseller books, grow a successful business, and create a positive legacy. Like Edison, I’ve tried 10,000 ways that don’t work and with each failure I learn something that helps me with the next attempt. What I’ve learned about watching TV and listening to the news is that it’s unproductive time that often opens the flood gates to distracting and negative thoughts. I don’t notice the effect at first, like a leak in a dam. If I feed my brain doom and gloom information it chips away at the energy field protecting my happy place until finally it breaks through. Before I know it, my mind is flooded with doubts, I focus on the wrong things, and frown my way through the day.

I think at best we underestimate the power of our brain and at worst we ignore it.

The brain is like any other part of our body in that it grows stronger when we take care of it and will atrophy if we neglect or abuse it.

I can hear TV fans everywhere proclaim this as nonsense because after all, you have a remote control. You can easily change the channel. For me, having satellite or cable TV is like stocking my kitchen cabinets with junk food. The temptation to veg/pig out is always there. When I’m tired or stressed, I don’t want either of those things to be my easy escape.

Until the networks (or some savvy entrepreneur) figures out how to offer programs a la carte, perhaps by creating a commercial-free device that automatically downloads a show I’m interested in (like NBC’s upcoming reality show, Breakthrough with Tony Robbins), I choose to abstain because I want to be the one in charge of the programming going in my brain.

If you have no aspirations to achieve more or you’re ok with unexplained mood swings and weight gain, veg away. But, if you believe that you were put on this earth for a divine purpose or if you want more energy and a richer life – you have to start somewhere. For me it was turning off the TV!

Kathy Gerstorff
www.theoptimiststore.com