If you are quiet at 4pm you can hear the chant of mothers everywhere telling their kids that they need to ‘wait for dinner’. Snacking is a habit. One that can apparently be rapidly formed within a year of one’s solid food career.
It was all the snack requests that got me thinking. Thinking that something is happening, paraded into view by half-eaten bananas and abandoned cheese strings.
The snacking, the consumption, is a habit we have formed.
We have re-watched seasons of kid’s shows on Netflix. I’m sure to keep the snack supplies stocked in the house.
Consume. Sleep(ha!). Shower(just kidding). Wake. Consume.
Consuming has become a habit. A consumer nation within my small little family.
It is one thing to view myself and my family as insatiable consumers. It is another to sit and think about the why.
Why have we formed this habit of consuming all day long?
Being at home with two toddlers and a newborn, sometimes consuming is the simplest way to ‘reward’ my tired, drawn-out self. It is also how my husband and I ‘unwind’ with each other at the end of the day. Sadly, I see my kids learning to consume out of habit rather than need. I rarely deny their requests. If it makes my life easier while I try and nurse or rock a baby, then I just say yes.
This year I want to consume more mindfully. Less auto-piloting to the pantry or having Netflix ask me if I’m ‘still watching?’ (to which I become irrationally offended and start telling off my Apple TV, ‘yeah Netflix, I AM still watching Zaboomafoo! Don’t you judge me!’).
Sure, some cheddar, Shiraz and eyeballing Tim Riggins makes me feel good and helps me relax at the end of the day! But what makes me feel productive? Proud? Passionate? Those are things I feel like I’m missing, even in the small doses in which I can acquire them.
Here is to making 2015 a year where I create things, simplify things, learn things, imagine things, do things – when I would normally default to consuming things in a dance with the minute hand on my clock.
I’d love to hear some goals you have for this year.
I never really thought about consuming like that but it does make sense. Good luck with your goals. I have three goals for 2015 and one of them is to be happier 🙂