Day 174 of Your Year to Wellness; Taking Control

Changing Your Channel

Yesterday I got back home after a great time working and an amazing time playing. I was with a group of over worked underappreciated folks who work in hospital food service and then I hung out with two of my sisters. I was flying out first thing in the morning, so of course we laughed all night.

When I got in, I was more tired than normal so I decided to take a nap but it became an all-day sleep-in.

I woke up in the wee hours of the morning and had a difficult time trying to read, so I decided to try to watch something on TV instead; I should have stuck with the book.

I was watching a sweet little story on the Hallmark channel called The Magic of Ordinary Days. It was about a young woman, played by Kerri Russell, who got pregnant by a soldier on leave who was forced to marry a nice stranger; played by Skeet Ulrich; the thinking woman’s Johnny Depp. I know sounds great, right?

With the exception of me trying to understand why the woman could not love the incredibly wonderful farmer dude played by the Skeet, the movie actually had my attention. What drove me nuts and made me try to find the well hidden remote (no I could not get up and turn the TV off like in the old days) was the fact that there were more commercials than there was movie and each one was more menacing than the next.

I began to fear for my identity, my money and my health. Let me explain; these commercials informed me that right then at that moment, someone was trying to steal my identity. The next one was about wealth building and how I was losing money and the IRS was going to take it and where is that remote.

Then came the obligatory you can lose weight by tomorrow commercials and all I wanted to do was find out if Kerri was ever going to love Skeet.

I kept thinking that TV was like a cigarette company; they sell you on the tobacco and all the cool that comes with it, but they’re really delivering nicotine. In the process, you are addicted and can’t control it. (Where is the remote?)

In my haze, I began to wonder what life would be like if it came with a remote control. I could stop the drama I didn’t want and turn to something informative. I could fast forward past the commercials and watch only what I wanted to see.

 Then suddenly without warning, my TV went black and I didn’t know why. A few moments later, it came back on and it occurred to me that I do have a remote and I am in control of the channels; it’s called choice.

 I can choose drama or comedy and I can choose action. Your life can be a thriller or it can be a musical. You can fast forward past the commercials or you can get hooked on someone else’s pitch.

I finally did find the remote; so I turned off the TV and tuned into my own dreams. And yes, Kerri finally fell for Skeet.

Be you, be well, Choose your own story.

Bertice Berry, PhD.

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