Why Did It Take Me So Long To Cancel Cable?
I’m embarrassed to admit how long it took me to cancel my cable service. In the age of more streaming services than I can keep track of, I was still paying an obscene amount of money every month for cable until last summer. I can’t even put my finger on what my resistance was to letting it go and using streaming services instead. Change is definitely not my favorite thing, so maybe that has something (ok, a lot) to do with it. It was like a security blanket for me. I have had Netflix for years, so it’s not as if I was a total stranger to streaming. As with most things in life that I resist, once I made the shift, I can’t believe it took me so long to do it. I shudder to think of all of the money I’ve wasted over the years paying my cable bill. Ugh.
I don’t even watch that much television, so I’m not sure why I was clinging to cable with a freaking death grip. I put off canceling my cable for well over a year before I went for it and started saving myself at least $100 every month. What was I thinking? Maybe this is a lesson for me in other areas of life, as well. Letting go of things that are no longer serving me might actually be the best thing for me in multiple ways. It’s also been much healthier for me. For instance, I have stopped watching the Bachelor franchise shows after more than two decades of rotting my brain with that nonsense. Oh, so many hours of my life swallowed up by that ridiculousness. I thought I would miss it, but that is definitely not the case. My relationships are also benefiting, since I’m no longer being influenced by whirlwind romance and reality show hijinks.
I actually feel a certain sense of freedom I wasn’t counting on. I can watch what I want to watch, when I want to watch it. No more mindlessly scrolling through the channels looking for something to watch. In fact, I’m often overwhelmed by how many shows and movies there are to watch now, and I only subscribe to a minimal number of streaming services. Any more would paralyze me with far too many options (add decision paralysis to the list of things that plague me sometimes). I’ve also given up trying to watch every show that is popular at the moment. I’m usually pretty late to the party with those kinds of things anyway, so I refuse to be bothered by peer pressure to watch certain shows. My bank account and my brain space both can breathe a sigh of relief now that I am not tethered to cable. I’m probably one of the very last people on earth who was still getting cable service, so not sure if this will even resonate with anyone. But, all I can say is that embracing this change has been illuminating in many ways. It’s definitely been yet another example of how good change can feel, even if it seems scary at first (for no justifiable reason). Here’s to embracing change and letting go of things we no longer need, even something as insignificant as cable.
