If you know the reference, you may be a fan of The Matrix movie. Essentially you can choose to take the blue pill or the red pill. If you pick the blue pill, you can carry on with status quo, blissfully unaware of reality. You pick the red pill, and you can open your eyes further to the true reality of how you are living.

There are so many parts of your life you can associate to the blue or red pill. I’ve been thinking so much about entertainment and just how much it can either add or take away from your life!

If you think about entertainment in the context of the pills in The Matrix, it can be a very eye opening way of enjoying your downtime! If you pick the blue pill, you can continue choosing entertainment by habit. You can play on your phone, blindly scroll through social media or YouTube, or you can watch streamed shows on your TV – all the things you do, simply because it’s what you’ve done to fill the void of waiting for something else to happen. If you pick the red pill, you can dive into what you really choose to be your entertainment. Entertainment is anything that provides you with amusement or something you enjoy, so when you pull out your phone, ask yourself if you are enjoying your time. You can choose! You can decide what your entertainment is.

BUT…

Picking your pill can come with a price tag. If you let yourself be entertained by habit, then you are choosing the blissfully unaware form of entertainment where time is passing you by and you’re not even doing a thing you really want to be doing! Sometimes, we don’t even realize we are being entertained. Like, let’s say you sit down to drink your coffee. You may pull out your phone, check an email…then…before you know it, you’re on Tik Tok watching some random video about how to do a front flip in a single day! I mean, it’s an awesome video, but is that actually the entertainment you wanted to have while sipping your morning java?? Or were you blissfully unaware it was even happening until it has taken you an hour and a half to drink your coffee??

Instead, you could have poured your coffee and chosen what type of entertainment you wanted to have. Maybe your phone or social media is what you actually choose, but maybe you have a book you want to finish, or a tv show you love, or maybe you’d rather choose a specific type of video you want to watch instead of watching whatever your social media is suggesting to you. Maybe it’s even different from that and you are working on a craft, like diamond art (it’s a pretty fun way to pass the time!) and you want to place a few beads between sips of your coffee. OR, you might even have a really invigorating blog post to read while you sip!! Haha

Just like we can choose what chores we need to focus on or prioritize, we can also choose our entertainment. It’s something that likely goes on without giving it much thought. If entertainment is really just anything that provides you with enjoyment, then, kind of like chore lists, you could get the most out of your own entertainment by writing out a list of some of your favourite ways of being entertained. When you find yourself with downtime, refer to your “leisure list” so it’s easy to pick the right kind of fun thing to do with your time. (Pro tip: ensure your list has a mix of outings and at home stuff – that way you’ve got some options for whatever amount of time you have)

Lists don’t have to be all about work! Go get started on your leisure list now!

Thanks for coming home!