She hoped to pick up a bargain. Now she tells me she's not going to bother replacing her TV. And not just for now. She can't see herself getting one again. She tells me she has reclaimed her life. Regained hours that she didn't realise she was frittering away by watching TV every evening. She's on her own so I can understand that TV might have served as company and allowed her to switch off once home for the evening.
It's something I do automatically as soon as I walk into the house.
Might catch the main stories if I didn't get home in time to watch the full 6 o'clock news.
I might get a preview of what's on later in the evening.
It's always on in the background while I'm preparing dinner.
My friend tells me each night she looks at the list she now makes every Sunday, of 15-odd jobs, mostly small ones, that require attention. She started list making when she got rid of her TV.
She picks three every day and gets stuck in. If she's not feeling very energetic she picks those that won't take long to tackle and complete.
After six months she is now struggling to find 15 activities to undertake from Monday to Friday. I think she's going to reduce her weekly list of actions to only five or seven. But there's no talk of doing away with the list altogether. She's mentioned visiting a gym; this I will have to see to believe, and possibly volunteering. But there are two special bonuses to her "pick three" list that she is most grateful for. The first is she has regained her weekends. Her business demands her full attention during the week. In the past she would put off all household jobs, of whatever size, until the weekend.
Now her weekends are her own. Jobs are already out of the way. If there is some work to be done she picks just one task and that's it. She is well-rested, now has time to go shopping and meet friends for coffee.
She still sets two hours every Sunday afternoon aside for her business bookwork but this is no longer the onerous task she always hated. She looks great, too.
The second bonus is the extra time she has found to read. This is her biggest joy, rediscovering her love of reading. No longer too tired to pick up a book, she gets through three or four a week.
I applaud the action my friend has taken. It wasn't something she intended and we all switch off at the end of the day in different ways.
I never thought she watched that much TV in the first place.
My friend wasn't to know it but her "pick three" list has set up a wave of change that is affecting many other areas in her life.
She has cottoned on. Life is too short not to enjoy every waking hour.
Merepeka Raukawa-Tait lives in Rotorua. She writes, speaks and broadcasts to thwart the spread of political correctness.
