Cutting crappy TV out of my life helped me cut all sorts of negativity

Two years ago, I gave up watching E! News and my life changed so much for the better. I know that it sounds silly and maybe even obvious because of course giving up crap television is going to improve my life, if not only because my free time could be spent doing something of substance, but it has turned into a lot more than just being able to spend my time more productively.

Craving the time to do the things I actually enjoy 

I’m not one to watch a lot of TV but when I did, it was always the E! network—for absolutely no reason sometimes. If I was home alone, the noise would keep me company. If I was cleaning my room, it offered a distraction. If I didn’t feel like making weekend plans, I knew a movie would be on that I would want to watch. I think that the main reason why I did this is because I knew it was something I didn’t really have to pay attention to and that it was entertaining

Then one day, I thought to myself, “Why am I doing this?” Why do I feel the need to fill my time with something with absolutely no substance? I consider myself to be a fairly creative person and I could literally feel my creativity being stunted. As cliché as it is, life is literally too short to waste my time like that.

When my sister and I hang out, it doesn’t revolve around the TV anymore 

And just like that, I gave up E! news cold turkey. (Now, if I’m being honest, sometimes I do catch up with the Kardashians on demand over Christmas break, but everyone has their secrets, right?) And immediately I felt better. If I am doing something that needs a distraction, I turn to an album I haven’t listened to yet. If I am laying around doing nothing, I start a new book or get my homework done early.

Now I am literally beenaddicted to cutting crap like this out of my life. If someone posts something I don’t like on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, I immediately unfollow/unfriend them. If I don’t think someone is being a real friend to me, I take a break from them. These are both things that I would have normally felt bad about, but now, I don’t feel the need to apologize for wanting the negativity out of my life. This also proved to me that sometimes you don’t need to make a giant change, sometimes a little change is just enough to get your life back where you want it to be. Who knew that E! news could teach me such a lesson?