If you’re looking for permission to binge-watch TV, then this may or may not be what you’re looking to hear.
Because it depends.
It depends on how it makes you feel.
There are seem days when you’re feeling down, you’re tired, and you’re looking for a quick pick-me-up. Reaching for the TV remote is a perfectly reasonable thing to do. You put on your favourite show and escape into another world. You feel your spirits rise. The show ends and it’s not unexpected that you want to have a little more. So, you let the next episode flick on.
This may be self-care if watching this show is the salve that you feel you need right now.
However, this is not self-care if:
- it makes you feel worse
- you numb out and feel cut off from yourself or your feelings
- it becomes addictive (the word ‘binge’ indicates that it’s probably not a healthy place to be in).
How do you know if something is self-care?
Self-care is such a personal thing. What makes one person happy may make another cringe. There’s no one perfect size fit all in self-care. Like there’s not one TV show that every single person on Earth would want to watch.
It’s about finding your own happy.
If you’re looking to get permission to put watching TV on your ‘Get Happy’ (aka self-care) list then that’s ok. Write ‘watching [favourite] show’ on your list or any other activity if it:
- makes you feel happy and positive
- fills you with a sense of excitement
- inspires you to do something that feels good
- nurtures and nourishes you
- brings you a sense of satisfaction or wellbeing.
And that’s the true test. Self-care leaves you feeling replenished and joyful; not tired, spent, numb or angry.
Next time you have an urge to pic up the remote control, pause and ask yourself, ‘Will this make me feel happy and nourished? Is this really self-care?’ The test is in how you feel.
