I admit I used to be one of those people who could never understand how people could binge watch a TV show. I just didn’t feel like I want to sit there for hours and watch the same show over and over… I know it would be different episodes but it still was the same list of characters etc.
We have Comcast/Xfinity in our house, and one of the channels that we watch quite a bit is.. decades TV.
Decades TV does a binge weekend each weekend… Where they run an entire show from noon on Saturday until 6 AM on Monday morning… Each and every weekend is a different show.
One particular weekend they were having a binge weekend of the Commish… I absolutely loved the show when it was on originally.
So I decided that I was going to binge watch it. Needless to say, after that, weekend I became a fan of binge watching. I know surprise surprise!
I have since binge watched a ton of different shows… On cable, Netflix, Tubi etc. etc.
I’m sure you’re wondering why am I talking about binge watching TV in a blog that is supposed to be about autism and or anxiety…
The other day I was thinking about how I couldn’t really find a show to binge watch and what I was interested in watching…. what era, drama, crime, reality or comedy etc. as I was reflecting on what I was really in the mood for, I realized in some ways binge watching TV is very similar to my life.
When I pick a show for binge watching it’s usually because it suits whatever kind of mood I am at that time.
As I’ve spoken about many times in different blogs I have GAD… General anxiety disorder.
When I’m extremely anxious and/ or having anxiety attacks.. I tend to hyperfocus on something in my life. It can be where I’m really stressing about a particular situation that I’ve either just been in, or about to go into… It can be about work, it can be about my kids… It can be about health, it can be about something that’s gonna happen a year from now or something I want to have happen.
The point is, I get myself so worked up and I sit an hyperfocus/stress/feel super anxious about this situation.
It’s not always because I want to, it’s because of my GAD.
When we are binge watching TV shows we become so hyper focused on that particular situation of a show.
I remember back in the olden days… Ha ha I’m 59 years old… When I was young soap operas were super popular. Many stay at home moms sat and watched soap operas during the day, and they became so focused on the shows that sometimes they believe that the actor or actress, were really that person in real life.
I’m by no means saying everyone who watched it believed that, but there were some.
Just like nowadays we become so connected to celebrities, pro athletes, musicians and reality TV stars… That sometimes we feel like because we see them on TV, in the movies, on social media etc. we know them personally we start focusing on their lives.
This is how I can be when I am really consumed with my GAD.. I start believing that my anxiety, my fears, my stress are real.
When I had that epiphany the other day, I suddenly realized I need to use my binge watching of shows almost as a Learning experience for me… To remember just as I can turn off the binge watching, I can get up and walk away… I need to turn off my hyper stress and refocus myself to other things in my life…
Even though I thought binge watching was silly… now I can honestly say I’m kind of glad I did it… And still do! I have learned a life lesson from it.
As always, thanks for reading my blog and have an awesome day!