I’ve just been thinking a lot about what playing the guitar does for me. Oddly enough, it was firing up the TV that did this. A friend at work is upgrading his DVD collection to Blu-Ray. He gets pennies on the dollars for selling or trading, so he often gives DVDs to his buddies. I wound up with Superbad.
It took me two days to watch it. By my calculation, that was also the first time I turned our TV on in nearly three weeks.
That’s an average of about six-and-a-half minutes of TV per day. According to a story in the LA Times, Americans watch an average of nearly 5 hours a day on TV.
With that in mind, let me offer a modest proposal: For every 10 hours you spend watching TV, go see one live local concert. Having spent the last five years in a band, I can tell you that everyone loves to say they like local music. If a quarter of the people who say that actually went to see some shows, the venues would be packed.
And seriously, seeing just about any live band is more enriching than sitting in front of a TV.
By my best guess, I spend about 12 hours a week on my guitar. That includes composing, practicing, maintenance and the like. That’s about what I spend on exercise, generally. And that’s probably why I log 45 minutes of TV a week.
I’ve gotta say, I think my life is way better for it. I’d bet others would say the same if they gave it a try.
If you hate loud music, fine. Don’t see a show. Paint something. Read something. Dust off your camera. Get some knitting needles. But just tap into your creative side. There might be a true passion waiting for you to find it.
