Reverb10 Day 11: 11 Things Dreamed 5153 days ago | | 1616 words
December 11 – 11 Things What are 11 things your life doesn’t need in 2011? How will you go about eliminating them? How will getting rid of these 11 things change your life? (Author: Sam Davidson)
1. Physical Media. What started in 2009 when I gave away every single CD I owned to a Thrift Store, about 90 in all continues in 2010. I have no purchased a physical DVD all year, all my music is now from iTunes or increasingly the Amazon MP3 Store. Movies come from the same places as well as Netflix, and a sprinkling of Hulu. Hard drives and streaming media take up far less space in my apartment and means less I have to pack up and move. Also, it saves the media from being overplayed and worn out (case in point my copy of Nine Inch Nails’ Pretty Hate Machine).
2. Boxed foods. Since falling in love with, then marrying my beautiful wife boxed food has been nearly eliminated in my life. I went from a time where much of my diet was delivered to me in a cardboard box, picked up from the grocer’s freezer section and generally hadn’t been real food since its inception. We have been cooking almost every meal at home. We have been eating out much less and opting for quality over quantity. We have been making amazing foods all thanks for my amazing wife and her ambition and gusto in the kitchen. There are countless amazing food blogs and cook books out there. It is not hard to find them and cook great food. It just takes the dedication to stay at it.
3. Pent up Stress. I tell everyone to find an outlet for their stress and irritations in life. I preach release in any form you choose, as long as its healthy and constructive but I rarely took my own advice until now. I have found 750Words.com and it has helped me get back into writing regularly. I used to write all the time, privately. I used to pen my thoughts and frustrations into notebooks I kept in my pocket or a file on my PC. Now, I have a private place to type my feelings where no one else can read them easily and I am awarded for my dedication at keeping at it. As a result, I have felt so much more mentally clear and happier. Writing is how I get out all the bottled up stress in my life and 750Words has been an amazing find and I intend to keep at it and expand its use and inspiration in 2011.
4. Cable TV. This is an odd one for me. After not having cable, in fact, not owning a TV for many years, my wife and I got cable TV this year. Previously, I had a HD Projector I had won in a contest from Tigerdirect. I watched all my TV and movies through Netflix, Hulu, iTunes and Amazon Video on Demand. In 2010, I broke down and got Comcast cable TV for my wife since she loves the Food Network and others that are hard to find in other legal sources, if at all. However, with her working full time now and our TV watching becoming less and less I think cable TV is going to go back from whence it came in 2011. It will mean a couple extra dollars in our pockets and reduce the desire to just sack out in front of the screen (we now own a lovely 42” HD TV we purchased as a wedding present to ourselves).
5. Fat. Just as I have fallen in love with 750Words for my writing and mental health, HealthMonth has given me the needed push to get my butt into the gym. The site allows you to setup rules for the month and keeps you accountable to them. For instance, my rules are to exercise at least 3 times a week, drink 21 glasses of water per week, limit myself to 4 sodas a week, write 3 pages of personal writing per day (750Words works perfectly!), and eat a piece of fresh fruit everyday. The site also allows you to form groups and join teams. My wife and I have both signed up and are using it happily to make s work out and eat better. We’re in competition with each other to keep motivated in addition to earning fruits and points n the site. It’s silly and fun and keeps me accountable to my plans for working out and becoming healthier in 2011.
6. Self-doubt. I’m tired of looking back on post I make or notes I leave for myself about projects I want to start and big ideas I have for my life and my goals. Then I look back months or years later and not only did I not complete them, in many cases, I didn’t even start. I am going to change that in 2011. I am going to start and complete more projects. I am going to learn more and get better at more things that interest me. I am going to generally do more and become better and find something I genuinely enjoy doing with my days.
7. Books. I used to lug around a small mountain of books everywhere I moved. I never even unpacked them. I think I was looking to that random future date where I had a house and a library or at least a nice room where I could unpack and tore all my books on shelves. Then I came to the realization that day will never come. There will never be a point in my life where I will have that, and if there is, it won’t be for years. So I gave them all away or sold them. I opened a half.com account and unloaded a ton of them through there earning me a couple pennies on the dollar for what they originally sold for. Then the remaining ones that didn’t sell, I donated to a thrift store. They are gone and out of my life. We have a Kindle now. My mom gave it to use for Christmas. Now, we can keep all our books inside a tiny 6” device in stead of across rows, and rows of shelves in our house. A much better solution.
8. Money woes. Living in Northern Virginia, especially moving up here on very short notice strained my finances to the limit and beyond the breaking point. My credit card still has not recovered from the beating it took to make it all happen. In 2011, now that both my wife and I are employed I am putting an end to money woes. Gone will be the week we can’t spent a single cent because we don’t have it. Gone will be the stressing about how we’re going to make rent or pay bills. Gone will be those times when the money just isn’t there for anything you’d like to do. Gone are all of those days and a clearer and happier financial future are ahead.
9. Filter my entertainment. I subscribe to a lot of podcasts. I have a huge list of movies to watch. I have a Kindle so now in addition to my Instapaper pile I have books I can now impulse buy and read. Or plan to. In 2011, I am going to ditch the 90-120 minute podcasts I used to listen to when I worked alone and had the time all day to fill it with those techy geek voice. Now I have less time and need to use it better. I need to ditch the podcasts and terrible movies and just listen to and watch the things I want to spend my time on. No more mindless junk filling my days. Just the things I want.
10. Family Drama. I am done with being stuck in the middle of divorce. Despite, “not wanting to put the kids in the middle of things” being pushed squarely into the middle of the divorce drama I inadvertently married into. In 2011, I am putting all of that behind me. Whether it goes away or not, I am going to ignore it and stop letting it bother me. What happens will happen and I will go with the flow.
11. Accepting my Hobbies. For as long as I can remember I have loved playing games. I love to play co-op games and catch up with friends. I love to puzzle my way through other worlds and lands. Lately, I’ve even been chopping fruits, killing Spartans and Elites and matching Jewels. I love to play games. For as long as I can remember I’ve always felt guilty about my game playing. I always felt like I should be spending my time off work focusing my efforts on bettering myself. Trying to learn a programming language, getting back into design. I am trying to push myself into something better and different to get me out of where I am in my life. I just need to relax and have fun. If I love to play games, I need to keep playing them. They calm me down. They let me catch up with friends. They’re partially my outlet for stress. I love gaming and I should not try to hide or ignore it.
Reverb 10 is an annual event and online initiative to reflect on your year and manifest what’s next. Use the end of your year as an opportunity to reflect on what’s happened, and to send out reverberations for the year ahead. With Reverb 10 – and the 31 prompts our authors have created for you – you’ll have support on your journey.
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