Dare Twenty Three: Habits and Addictions

I am not sure about you, but some of my habits are basically addictions.  While I am not addicted to drugs or alcohol nor am I tempted to look at bizarre pictures, I have habits that are just as time consuming and just as detrimental to my marriage.  I watch.  And watch.  And watch.  Television.  Netflix is like air for me some days.  I want my episodes of old sitcoms and I want them now!!!!

When the dare told me to “remove anything that is hindering your relationship, any addiction or influence that’s stealing your affections and turning your heart away from your spouse,” I knew that I would have to give up the remote.  Maybe not permanently, but I need to reject the TV enough to show him that I am changing my habit.  So far it hasn’t gone well.  I was exhausted last night and curled up in a ball to watch Hannah Montana on Netflix.

Part of the problem is that James and I have no joint hobbies.  We have nothing that we do together to spend time together besides just vegging out in front of the television.  Occasionally we play a board game or play the Wii, but on a regular basis we have no hobbies that we share.  Instead of finding things that we both enjoy doing and incorporating the hobbies into our evenings, we default back to the television.  This is going to have to change.

Instead of my feeble attempt at not watching the television as much, I have decided to have a problem solving session tonight with James.  We will work through this instead of defaulting.  We’ll make a list of possible evening activities and start hanging out rather than being lost in the land of the tube.  Instead of devoting our time to regarding an actor or actress, we will devote our time to each other.  I can definitely see this as a change that is a long time coming, and will change us for a long time to come.