The Netflix Cancellation Story

So, I chose to blog about this first.  Mainly, because pictures aren't needed to tell this story.  :)

I cancelled my Netflix account about a month ago.  After 5 years.  Why?  It was best for us.

I have a real addiction to TV series.  The disc comes with 4 episodes on a disc and since I don't have to wait until next week to "see what happens", I keep watching.

About 2 months ago, I started watching an action packed, nail-biting series.  I watched the first season, 24  45 min episodes in a little over a week.  (You do the math. I don't want to know!)  There wasn't much on my "to do" list so I didn't think this was a problem.  Dead of winter, while the kids nap, me time kind of thing.  Since, it was quite scary (even for me) the girls knew they were not allowed to watch and pretty much never even knew I was watching it.

One, Tuesday, about 6 weeks ago, my daughter had one terrible day at school, which tumbled over into the car, then into the house.  Full-fledged Mom is so disgusted this happened again, "you wait till your dad gets home" scene.

To add to everything, I noticed that her days were worse when she didn't get enough sleep.  Over this time, Hubs and I were being interrupted 3-4 times a night for multiple reasons.  I think we were both sick, the girls had to pee, someone fell out of bed, the creepy 3 a.m. no one's there phone calls...  You know, the typical night time disturbances.

A little background needed here.  Sweet Pea is extremely shy/self-conscious.  And it IS extreme.  With everything we dealt with at the beginning of the school year, we (teachers included) saw a major improvement in December and January.  Praise the Lord!  Hallelujah!   Well, not sure what happened, but we regressed.

Anyhow, that day 6 weeks ago, well we ended our little scuffle on her bed, weeping together.  She fell asleep from the stress of the day and I laid there and prayed.  Asking God to show me what to do next, because I felt so lost.  Here I thought, whatever we were doing was helping. 

I heard one word... Netflix.   Yep.  Not a surprise to me.  I had already decided to stop watching that series because I got bored with it.  But, what better way to not be tempted.  Get rid of it.  But, the human in me only put a temporary hold on my account.  Because, you never know when you are going to want to watch a good movie.  Right?

Kind of did it as a leap of faith.

I thought about it and realized that I didn't spend much time with Sweet Pea.  She'd go to school, come home, eat lunch, play with sissie, then off to her room for quiet time, then dinner.  I was spending more time watching movies than with my 5 year old.  How sad! So I replaced those movies with reading, writing and all sorts of learning.  Fun stuff!  More demanding than watching a movie and drinking coffee.  More rewarding, too!

That following Sunday at church Hubs leaned over and said, "You know I slept good last night.  There were no interruptions.  Come to think of it it's been quite a few days."  It hit me.  We had been sleeping well since Tuesday.  I whispered back about what I had done with Netflix.  We just looked at each other. 

That is when the nightmares stopped.  That is when the girls started sleeping better.   That is when we started sleeping better.

Had I unknowingly allowed something sinister into my home?  The series I had been watching was very violent and unsettling.  Wow!  It still blows me away, how close we were to evil.  How it just creeps in there when you aren't expecting it.  But, in that time of submission to God, he took the authority over the evil one. 

Our life has become a little sweeter.  I completed some decorating projects, reading more books, and of course spending more time with Sweet Pea.  It's amazing what you can learn from a kindergartener.  I have become super sensitive to what we watch on TV, what books we read, etc.  And, now, the human in me has given up and Netflix is gone!