I'm Quitting My Worst Habit (and It Hasn't Been Easy)

How ditching my TV binge habit transformed my evenings—and what I've learned in the first 29 days.

Coming into 2025, I decided to tackle my worst habit: Planting myself on the couch and binging hours of TV at a time...several times a week. 🙈

(When I say TV, I'm talking about streaming shows and movies on platforms like Netflix.)

I quit drinking in 2019, and I started watching a lot of TV, like a lot a lot. I lived alone and it was always on in the background. I finished Grey's Anatomy in maybe 5 months? I let myself watch as much as I wanted, even when it wasn't doing anything for me because I felt like I needed the escape.

Early sobriety is a trip. It’s really overwhelming and it’s awesome (until it’s not).

So….what changed? Why now?

Well, good news is I've been sober for a while now (Jan. 31, 2025 will mark 6 years). Watching that same volume of TV more or less out of habit isn't doing anything beneficial for me anymore. I realized I didn't even find watching TV relaxing anymore because I was doing it so much.

Over time, my TV consumption had turned from a healthy coping mechanism to a long-term crutch. I knew it was a problem but I let it go unchecked because I wasn’t sure I could change my behaviour.

Here's why:

1. I think the longest I'd ever gone in my adult life without streaming a show or movie was maybe 5 days. A week max.

2. I had tried to take two or three day breaks, and I found myself relieved every time they were over.

3. I was worried I would never be able to slow down and relax without TV.

4. What was I going to do with all that time?????

5. Would I just replace TV with more social media scrolling or YouTube content?
   

I decided it was worth it and took the leap, but with a caveat....

I was going to let myself watch up to 2 movies a month. So instead of complete elimination, moderation!

It's been 29 days (I started on boxing day), and here's what I've noticed so far:

• I found it really hard to relax at night at first. I had to create a completely different wind-down routine, which took a while.

• For the first 3 weeks, I wanted to watch TV pretty much every day. Then, in the fourth week, the feeling really started to lessen.

• Yesterday, I watched my two movies (back to back, oops), but I really enjoyed them. When they were done I was able to peel myself off the couch and move on with my day.

• It took a while, but I started feeling more creative after a while. I’ll talk more about this in future newsletters….

Quitting—or at least moderating—my TV habit has forced me to confront how I spend my time and taught me a lot about what I actually need to relax and recharge (fewer, higher quality inputs, more creative output).

So, if you’re reading this and thinking about a habit of yours that isn’t adding to your life anymore, maybe it’s a sign to see what it feels like to go without it for a while?

Stay weird,

Reggie