Breaking a Habit PDF Print E-mail
Tuesday, 21 September 2004 00:00
Television is a nasty habit. When you live this nomadic life, often the TV is your information lifeline but it is extremely habitual. I know it can even be worse for some people who live a traditional life but when you are a camper/traveller there are so many more things that could and should occupy your time. Unfortunately, if you flick it on in the morning (you tell yourself it's just to catch the news) it is easy to get hooked.

Now that we have our ExpressVu up and running, rain or shine again, the TV habit will be easier to break. We have a system that allows us to digitally record many hours of programming and the nice thing is we have been able to reduce a three-hour habit down to two hours simply by skipping the commercials. In the morning when we get up while we're busy doing more productive things, now we simply turn on the radio and the PVR records our favourite shows for us to watch later.

Several years ago, Jay decided to forgo watching television for a year and it was one of the best things he did. It broke him of the habit and he has never gotten into it again since. Now he uses his leisure time to read, train for a marathon and spend quality time with friends and family. His is an example we will try to emulate though we're not likely to run a marathon but we will become more active and educated through our newfound reading time. I hate getting caught in a rut (actually probably one of my biggest fears) and television land is certainly instrumental in putting me there. Yes, TV watching is a bad habit and a major waste of time (which as we get older flies by faster) so hopefully we will overcome it soon. The picture here is of part of the Vancouver seawall as was yesterday's pic!