Do you ever see yourself? I mean in a sort of literal sense. For instance, you're lying on the couch, watching TV, and you step outside yourself a little bit. You can see what you look like. You imagine that you're someone else (or, somehow, still you), in the room, looking at you from approximately 8 feet away. I think it can be a helpful exercise. It can help you realize how you're wasting time and/or what you're doing that you don't really want to do (or spend less time doing). I don't like to see myself lying on the futon, watching TV. It's pathetic. I'm doing nothing. I'm inside (I've written, over and over again now, that it's better, more natural and therapeutic, to be outside, but, of course, most of us don't want to always be outside.) and I'm looking at a screen. I know why I do it. I like movies and TV shows, but only if they are genuinely worth watching (Many aren't. I have a 30-minute rule. I will watch a movie or a TV show [on DVD-I don't have cable] for 30 minutes, and, if it has failed to grab me by then, I will stop watching it and move on to the next one. There are exceptions. I recently gave
Easy A less than 30 minutes before pulling the plug, because it was, in my opinion, made for people much younger than me.). I also read, and I'd be better off doing that, but my current setup makes it less comfy to do that. Although I probably could fix that just by moving a lamp. There's also the issue of my asshole neighbors. Their loud TV comes right through the wall we share. If I'm reading, there's nothing to drown out the sound they make. If I'm watching TV, then that noise will battle the sound they're making.
Another place I hate to "see myself" is at work. I hate what I do: what I am 40 hours a week. It's depressing to stand outside myself and see me doing what I do to pay the bills. I don't even like to watch other people doing what I do; it's an unpleasant reminder. So you see how this can be a helpful thing to do. It lets me know that I don't like my job (I can get another one.), and I don't like watching as much TV as I do (I can watch less and read more.).
I don't mind seeing myself sitting at my computer, probably because I'm usually doing something at least somewhat constructive. The issue there is stamina. I can only sit there for so long, before the pain becomes unbearable (I don't have a laptop; it's a desktop.), which is why I adjourn to my futon to watch TV. I also don't mind seeing myself exercising. Exercise is very important: for both physical and mental health. I don't mind seeing myself outside at all: even if I'm just standing around and looking at some trees. There's nothing wrong with that; it's natural. It's soothing. Time spent in nature is time well spent.
