Sons Of Anarchy Improved My Life

Sons of Anarchy helped to improve my life – and sleep!

That’s right; you read the title right. Sons of Anarchy – the TV Show about gangs, violence and bikies’. It helped to improve my life and my sleep!

How? Ok let me explain.

I finally finished the series; watching the entire final season in about 4 weeks or around 3 hours of episodes a week. And I felt somewhat disappointed. Not so much in how the series ended but more in the fact that I had just realized I had given up a total of 12 hours of my life on something that didn’t give me any benefit at all to my overall wellbeing. I gained no mental, physical or spiritual benefits to this.

Think about that – 12 hours.

Sure; 3 hours spent watching a TV show each week doesn’t sound like much but if I am honest it wasn’t just Son’s I watched. It was more like 7-10 hours a week when I combine all the other programs like Bachy (yes I watch this!), Survivor, Gogglebox, Friday night movies, news. The list grows and grows and very quickly so does my ‘couch time’.

Therefore Sons of Anarchy improved my life!

Sons is the catalyst that sparked a different thought process in me; one that I hadn’t really taken on before. By doing some simple math’s I realized that the accumulation of hours spent in front of the idiot box equaled:

1 full day at work with overtime!
1 full night’s sleep and sleep in
10 x gymnastic classes with my three year old boy
60 YES 60 (!!) books I could have read to my 16 month old
30 (or more!!) sexy times with my wife
2 weeks of very solid training
10 physio/massage appointments
1 completed Ironman event (for a professional weapon)

WOW…and I thought I was pretty productive in life WITH TV. Appears not.

So finishing Sons of Anarchy made me ask myself this poignant question: How would I feel if I simply switched off the TV?

From this millions of other crazy considerations and concerns were raised like, would I feel like I was missing out on something, could I keep up with current events, would I feel disconnected, would I be left out of ‘water cooler’ catchups? Would I feel unfulfilled…

It was that final question that lead me to the real clincher – what do I most value in my life.

This answer was simple. My family. My friends. My health and my business. Ultimately all the things that make me happy.

So it was decided. Time to switch off and give my brain much needed recovery. Time to invest in ME and not in faux lives scripted out on a TV screen. Time to invest in the real world.

That was one month ago. One month on and zero TV.

I have more consistent energy throughout the day, I am a more patient father and loving husband, I spend more quality time with my family and friends, I find myself in more thought provoking and meaningful conversations with my wife, friends and colleagues, I am training harder, better, more efficiently and I average an additional 1 hour extra in sleep a night.

And the positives don’t stop there!

My business is progressing more efficiently, I have become a more understanding boss, I am eating less sugar or treats at night and most importantly (and ironically) I feel even more connected to people. More than I ever did!

All this – one month – no TV.

So, how do I feel now I have switched off the TV. That’s easy. Happier, healthier, more connected.