For the self intervention of choice I dicided to take something away that I use often (too often). It took me a few days to figure out what I should take away. The first thing that came to my mind was may phone. On a second thought I decided not to choose my phone for the intervention as I am not very dependent on it. I don’t mind not having a phone. My phone was broken once so I didn’t have it for a month or longer and that wasn’t an issue at all. It was only a little bit complicated to keep in touch with my family… The second thing I thought of was social media but that is same as with my phone. I don’t really need social media so it would challenge me. And I wanted a challenge.
Finally, I decided to take watching movies and series away. In particular Netflix. After a few days actively monitoring my habits, watching Netflix was definitely the most dominant one. Furthermore, it is hard for me to not think of watching a movie or series after a busy day or on the weekend. I calculated that the average time I spend with watching movies or series is about 3-4 hours a day. Following, my self given challenge was to not watch movies or series for two weeks.
The Beginning
Feeling Status: healthy and adventurous
The first few days weren’t as hard as I thought. I was very persistent to do this intervention successfully. Through the intervention I felt like living a much healthier life. Instead of watching a movie I went for small walks, read books or did something with friends. Over Thanksgiving I visited parts of my family near San Francisco and was busy anyways. I travelled and saw many amazing places during the break and all without watching a movie.
Halfway Through
Feeling Status: tired and hagged off
Then after Thanksgiving break it happened: I had a very busy start with classes and on Monday evening I watched a movie. It was the just released second part of a movie I really liked. I was very exhausted from class and just didn’t feel like doing anything else but watching that movie. But, what was different this time was that I felt very bad afterwards. I felt bad because I did not stay strong and fell for watching the movie. The next day was again very busy. It was so busy that I had a hard time calming down in the evening. Usually, I would have watched another movie or series but I resisted. The only issue was that I just couldn’t calm down. I tried to read a book and listen to music but it didn’t help. In the end, it took me half of the night to finally fall asleep and I was very tired next morning.
The Last Days
Feeling Status: awaiting and enriched
The last few days were less busy and it was easier for me to fall asleep. Reading was my main replacement for the movies. The less exhausted I was the easier it was for me to do something else but watching Netflix. Today was my last day of the intervention and I am happy about it. I am glad that I pulled it through with (nearly) no interruption and it was very interesting for me to see how hard it is to resist watching Netflix but as well how much I accomplished the last two weeks. I had a great time with my family and friends, did my homework right after class, walked over 10000 steps every day, travelled to a lot of places, and finished reading a book. Not using Netflix gave me a lot of time. On the downside I had a few “restless” nights and didn’t feel like calming down when it was busy.
Ultimately, I think this self intervention was interesting for me in order to see how much my habits can change through not doing one thing. I enjoyed having “more time”. But in future I will not quit watching movies. Instead, I will monitor the time that I am watching and cap it if needed.
(I will also read more books. I really enjoyed that part of the self intervention and found a new hobby.)
The book I read during two weeks of not watching movies or series:
