Day 1 - Why I decided to go TV and Facebook free for a year

I made a decision a couple of months ago that is going to change my life. I decided to get off Facebook and TV for a year. The harsh reality of this hit me today when I asked my son for the remote control so that I could watch some NFL when I realized I had pretty much made a vow that I wouldn't watch TV or access my Facebook account for the next year. This decision is not without consequence. My cousin (by marriage) wasn't very happy about it because that's how he keeps up with what is going on in my life and how things are going all the way around. I also could keep up with him the same way. People asked the question: "WHY?" Of course I have answers for that question and here they are:

1) Why not? In this day and age of social media and inundation of television of every kind why not be a little bit different? Why not see if I can make it without such things? Why not try to explore other things in life for my betterment.

Which leads me to my next reason:

2) Leaving the mindless, thoughtless, careless, imbecilic, immoral, and degrading posts on Facebook. Ever tried reasoning with people? Yeah, so have I? Ever tried reasoning with a brick wall? No, I haven't although I felt like I had on some of the back and forth conversations I had on Facebook. Reading about family and friends who share their fantasies about a possible homosexual encounter with a famous rap star, or reading the beer guzzling stories from the night before, or reading outright lies that people post on their pages became problematic for me. No matter what your stance is on politics, relationships, or religion it isn't always necessary for you to go into the goriest details of your life. Sexual stuff should stay in your mind and in your bedroom in my opinion. I don't want to know about all your business and you telling me (and the world for that matter) everything that pops in your head, and it isn't just unnecessary it's also uncouth (look it up, folks.) It is akin to someone telling you details about a bowel movement or hemorrhoid surgery. In other words, IT JUST ISN'T SOMETHING YOU SHOULD TELL EVERYONE IN THE WORLD ABOUT.

3) I want to dedicate myself to things that are more important. I turned 40 last year and to say that I'm having a midlife crisis is an understatement. Where's my place in this world(Michael W. Smith playing in the background?) What is important in my life? Do the convictions I claim to espouse really mean something to me? I went back to college in the fall of 2010. Times have changed. It's not the same strict place I had gone to as an 18 year old. The F-bomb is dropped constantly and has become so commonplace within youth circles that the fallout has eaten away at the morality of our young people. I'm going to college full time to get my degree and I'm also working a full time job which takes up a ton of my time. In a couple of weeks I will be a student taking 13 hours including a weekly science lab. TV just doesn't help me to accomplish my goals of getting on the Dean's list again. Facebook doesn't help much either because it is a time killer for me. In addition to having 2 political science courses, an education course, and a science course I would like to learn one of the languages that I'm supposed to know already. Spanish sounds good to me and I understand a lot of it and am very good at pronouncing most words but I can't carry on a conversation. This is a problem I need to alleviate. Hopefully this year without the extra distractions will help.

Included with things that are more important is my health. I've been struggling with it for a long time. Let's face it I'm overweight. WAY overweight. To say I'm a fatty is an understatement. This has caused pain in my life emotionally and physically. I want to be able to do things that are physically demanding. One of my favorite shows the last few years has been "The Biggest Loser" and watching Bob Harper and previously Jillian Michaels along with a number of revolving trainers has been something that I've looked forward to. While watching John win the show this last season I realized something: I am not going to make anything happen by watching someone else make changes in their own lives. Watching "The Biggest Loser" became a ritual for me. Grab some food and go sit for 2 hours and watch the show. It was inspiring but not enough for me to get off the couch and do something about it. I was stagnating. I identified with John because he is 40 just like I am. I'm not near his weight (what it was before) but I'm overweight enough that I deal with a lot of the same things that the contestants deal with on the show. I need to get better, physically and emotionally, for my family's and my my own sake.

I want to spend more quality time with family. This means that I want to spend time doing something other than watching TV. Maybe walking in the park or playing board games. Teaching my son how to play saxophone is also a goal for this year. Time to start training my replacement at church. I want to spend time cultivating relationships instead of just coexisting. I want to be a better husband and father. I want to learn to be more romantic with my wife and to be more inspiring to my children.

Last but not least I want to serve the community in some sort of capacity that is beneficial. In the back of my mind I have had this idea and this yearning to be able to serve people food. There are hungry people in this world and I think God has put a burden on my heart for them. I have wanted to start a food kitchen/hot food delivery service for people living on the streets and shut ins. This is something that year after year I feel God wants me to do. I don't know how it is going to happen. I'm a person of little means but I believe that if he wants me to do so that I will be able to get it done with his help somehow. The Bible teaches that ". . .faith without works, is dead. . ." and I want to put my faith into action. I volunteer at church and have done so for many years but I think it is time to get outside of those walls and make an honest difference. I can hear Christ's voice saying: "whatever you have done unto the least of these you have done unto me." Lord help me to be that person.

This year is going to be a different year for me and I know this already. I will miss the Super Bowl. I will miss Biggest Loser, Survivor, Person of Interest, and a few other things I like to watch. I will miss watching videos at home with my kids and wife but I did leave a loophole because it leaves an opening for me to spend time with my family. We will go to some movies at the theater occasionally. We will go to the park too. We might even take a family vacation that we've been longing for, for quite some time. Although this year is going to be different, it isn't going to be boring. I hope you'll keep up with me here and find out how I'm spending my days and nights with my family.

God Bless,

Macario