Binge-watching

For one college semester, I was someone who had the TV on whenever I was home. That I remember the TV so clearly highlights how anomalous this was. Subsequently, I did not own a television for many years. When everyone switched to watching on computer screens, I was too busy. Work took so many hours and even more energy, and the time I had left was focused on my personal community and keeping my life organized.

I now have a Netflix subscription and am deep into Downton Abbey, a decade behind everyone else, but like a lot of things for me right now, this is an experiment. How does it feel to watch TV? The show is obviously very entertaining but I feel a bit like I am wasting time. In indirect support of TV time, someone who has kindly read this blog suggested that I need to give myself a break and take it easy; others have made similar observations.

My challenge is I didn’t retire to relax; I retired because I wanted to accomplish goals I could not accomplish while I was immersed in my job. I actually am accomplishing goals, but I am also relaxing more than I find comfortable.  Fortunately for my relentlessly striving nature — and feel free to laugh at me if you think this is ridiculously earnest — I was able to identify a worthy goal for my relaxation:  maybe relaxing more will help me silence that tense, angry, critical voice that I hear in my head too often and that sometimes speaks out loud in abrasive and unpleasant ways.

I did not include the chance to address my character flaws when I was thinking about my retirement plans but it would be a wonderful achievement.