If you’re following my experiment based on Jen Hatmaker’s book, 7: an experimental mutiny against excess, you already know I’m not going to be viewing Netflix, Amazon Prime, or any show, game or documentary on the television for the next month. Kevin and I are going on a TV fast for the entirety of June. Some of you are rolling your eyes because a month without TV isn’t a big deal and others of you don’t know how it can be done. I feel you all.
After reading 7, I realized I did a lot of things out of comfort, predictability, and habit. Many things I did throughout the day I didn’t even think about. Checking my phone when I woke up in the morning, shopping on Amazon for the next thing I ‘needed’, turning on Netflix after all our babes were safely in their beds at night. Habits, routines, and rhythms are good and helpful when they are done intentionally. However, after some reflection, I found some of my habits and routines did not serve me, my family, or the greater good well. Enter the 7 experiment.
Each night Kevin and I have a pretty specific and unvaried routine. Such is life with little people who need routines and structure! We play outside, eat dinner and clean up, go for a walk, take baths, then read books and tuck the kids into bed. After the kids’ doors are closed and the sound machines are on, Kevin and I plop on the couch, have a short conversation, and watch about 20-30 minutes of a show. This is so ingrained in us, we don’t have to think at all about it. I’ll be honest, there are even times we are both so tired there is no conversation and the remote is pressed and we are deep in The Office reruns or Poldark or some other PBS Masterpiece Classic. But, in the month of June there will be no Poldark. There will be no Netflix or Amazon Prime after the kids go to bed at night. We are taking a break.
So, instead of numbing my brain (which I like quite a bit), I am going to be trying to have more conversations with the person I do life with everyday. Also, I will be picking up a book. A tangible, real book written by someone somewhere. It will have real paper pages and a story between it’s covers. And I will have to use my actual brain to follow the story line or pick up on the message the author is illustrating. I have generated a list of books I want to read this summer. Most of them are recommendations from podcasts as well as Anne over at Modern Mrs. Darcy. I wanted to share my list with you. I’m sure I will not get through them all in June, but maybe? Who knows with limited interaction with a glowing screen.
Here they are:
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Anne of Green Gables by L.M Montgomery
The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory
I Shall Be Near to You by Erin Lindsay McCabe
Happiness for Beginners by Katherine Center
Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty
Girl, Wash Your Face by Rachel Hollis
The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher
A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight by Alexandra Fuller
That’s it! I am going to do my best to pick most of these up at the library. I used to one click books from Amazon every time a new title piqued my interest, but I have been loving ‘ordering’ books from the library online. They put them on the hold shelf for me and all I have to do is walk in and check them out. It’s almost as convenient as online grocery shopping.
Do you have any book recommendations? I am looking for classics, modern fiction and memoirs, and some really good Christian books for women. I would love to add them to my list!