Tonight I was going to go catch up on this weeks episode of Riverdale and I took my computer and my laptop to the couch like always…. Telling myself that I could control myself to just watch the one episode (I am currently focusing on giving up Netflix and for some reason Riverdale seemed to have been my last show vice I had) Usually when I sit down to watch Riverdale it turns into an evening of other shows too. Thankfully this has reduced down to one night a week over the last 8 weeks as before Christmas it had become a nightly issue for me. A friend of mine had done a calculation of how much of my weekly time was spent to Netflix and it was 20%… 20%!! That works out to 34 hours of Netflix a week. That number seems high but doesn’t seem astonishing until I did another breakdown of my day… 8 hours to sleep; 6 hours to work; 2 hours for eating (cooking, cleaning, shopping); 3 hours for travel time, hygiene, and personal time; Leaving 5 hours a day for all of the other stuff, time with my kids, going to the gym, meditation, roller derby, seeing a friend… the list could go on and on for things to fill that extra 5 hours each day with and I am lucky to have 5, most people have to work 8 hour per day plus travel time.

That 5 hours each day of “Free” time over a week equals 35 hours… I was watching Netflix for 34 of it …

Tonight when Riverdale did not have a new episode, instead of finding something else to watch I TURNED OFF THE TV!!… I came to my office to sit at my desk and work on Creative Vitality!! I am so proud that I was able to activate my will power tonight and walk away from something that has been an addiction for a long time.

That is just one of many, many addictions that I have that no longer serve me. I can’t fix them all today but I can keep focusing on the ones that come to the surface with awareness and loving attention until they are healed or released. This group is not just for physical health… it is also for emotional health and support in many different kinds of challenges and addictions that we face each day.

I want to help others become a master of habit change to help break the cycles that many of us live in so that we can make space for new experiences to come in. since giving up Netflix this year I have managed to read 6 books… I haven’t read 6 books in the last 6 years. I have found time to actually start activating my new business, as well as having more time to put towards developing many of the new health habits I have such as meditation and increasing my physical activity. My next challenge is to develop a better morning routine. I would like to wake up, doing my morning sun salutations, get ready, have a morning meditation to set a good intention for the day, followed by a nutritious breakfast to get me and my metabolism going.

What habit would you like to break or create first??