I can't handle much tv because of the ridiculousness and repetition of much of the content, along with the endless ads for foods I no longer eat, the endless infomercials..."but wait!!!! there's more!!!"...and all those damn medicine commercials rattling off lists of side effects as long as my arm. Marketing mayhem, to say the least. Then you have so called 'news' channels with folks yelling over top of one another and/or parroting the most attention grabbing headlines to spread even more fear. How inviting...not. The music channels rock my world, though.
When there is something on that I'd like to see, I ask for the remote so I can switch it over to the music channels during commercial time, or just mute it and have an actual conversation while we wait for the show to come back on. It's called programming for a reason, I feel, and it doesn't seem to jive well with my senses. It wasn't always like that, though, as I used to be quite glued to it when I was mostly bed ridden, and even more so in my younger days. I'd plan my week and weekends around my favorite shows and would be pissed if I was made to miss any.
Movies are a bit different, it feels like, since I can look up what's playing, watch previews, and know a bit more about what's coming. I don't do violence or gore, don't do vulgar or overly sexual stuff, don't do horror flicks, can't handle very many of the chick flicks or the cop plots, and I don't try to make myself sit through something that is creating physical discomfort. To me, that's not entertainment at all, that's torture. I put myself through way too much of that in the past. (There again, back in the day, I loved them all at some point)
I used to feel really self-conscious about it, like I was letting the hubby and others down by not wanting to watch what they liked (or eat what they eat, drink what they drink, etc., etc.), until I realized I was simply taking action regarding a large part of some very necessary self-care steps for my own overall well-being. Those who wish to spend time with me realize time well spent is time that I don't feel under duress or feel like I need to be on guard the whole time. I'm way more sensitive than the average bear about many things that used to never bother me. Recognizing and healthily communicating those needs is the tricky part, as usual, since most folks aren't that good at mind reading. lol
Documentaries are an absolute favorite. Especially music, plant-based nutrition, gardening, overall wellness of humans and the planet, true stories of various survivors, and most nature oriented things. I can watch those and usually remain deeply engaged and it feels like they enrich my life instead of complicating it. I can use all of that I can get.
