thenewguy

I would seriously think about getting rid of the TV altogether. It seems like popular shows like "Game of Thrones", with their ultra-violence and nihilism, harden our souls and feed into a negative perception of the world. The ads, like you mention, dehumanize us. And cable is like, what, 160$ a month, for all that .

Eat clean, live healthy, avoid all media (including social media), and of course stay sober. Just my humble opinion.

Kind regards,

tomsteve

I've moved from northern Michigan september last year and live in meteo Detroit.
Guess what??? It STILL doesn't effect me because I don't allow it.
That simple!
I have no clue what that ultra consumer oriented stuff is. Might have it around here, but I don't care. I won't use it as an excuse to let it control how I feel.

Nonsensical hit something very important. Something that changed a LOT for me and my attitude-
Not plying the victim. When I stopped playing the victim in any circumstance I was playing the victim in, amazing things happened, like I stopped allowing people,places,and things control how I feel.

Fly N Buy

When I started in sobriety last year I turned off a lot of the extraneous noise. The hate channels (all network news programs) the hate blogs - left and right sides - deleted facebook noise (thank God) etc. I made a decision to insulate from the junk food of the airwaves. This includes commercials - ad's - most magazines.

My life is surrounded with books and information about growing spiritually - I watch pretty much only sports, history and Netflix on the tube - go to meetings and associate with those friends - post on SR and try to live in the spirit of the light!

Anything that detracts from that I try to eliminate. Sobriety is an inside jobs. It does not matter where I live........trust me.

Sure, I'd like to chill in the UP as well - but that would not keep me sober or make me drink.

People, places and things will not keep me sober or vice versa.

AF - I do understand the deluge of consumerism that surrounds us. The dark side it there, it's real and try's to snuff out the light. We need to decide if we are Warriors of the Light (Paulo Coelho) or not

Thanks for the great thread and reminder of what's really at stake!

tahrga

I was at an AA meeting yesterday , and I saw a GrapeVine magazine cover which stated
Sobriety on Madison Avenue .
Mad Men like or something.
Winos know how to push and move product.

corockies

all any company ever, even the "healthiest change your life by eating my organic trail mix bar!" is playing off people's insecurities.

we all want to be in shape, not be alcoholic, enjoy gluten, etc.

zjw

i think what we need to be happy we already have inside of us. I think the world provides us with everything we need to be happy. No i did not say man provides us with this. I mean get out and look at what mother nature can provide we dont need more then that to be happy.

I lived in a place that was busy area etc.. and moved to a more country area. I couldnt be happier. I can only imagine living in a concrete jungle like dallas has to be taxing on ones nerves. No doubt some folks love that stuff great for htem i do not thrive in that kind of environment heck i barely survive!

I give a fair amt of credit to where i live now for healing me and getting me out of that pit i was in.

its true too all tv commericals in someway or another tell you how inadequate you are. it can be hard to not buy into the manipulation. I dont even watch tv anymore so its not an issue for me. We have to be careful what kinda worldly stuff we get wrapped up into. Some stuff can be just as much of a cancer as it can be a cure. Heck drinking on day one prolly seemed great then look how that turned out.

matilda123

AF, you might be interested in looking at moneymustache. Whole community of folks over there who are saying no to consumerist culture or, at the very least, making decisions that work for them and their family regardless of what media and trends suggest. Some interesting reading...

coming_clean

The only thing I actually can control are my own actions.

For the rest i'm just a leaf in the autumn winds of the world.

Gonnachange

There one only one reason why a company will pay money to advertise its goods or services: it wants consumers to vote with their collective wallets and funnel the money to them. Once that as well as ignoring the implicit message that unless you drink this soda or drive this car you're somehow not the equal of your neighbors and friends is understood sticking with one's core values is easy. I'm not implying I live a stark existence, because I don't, but there has to be a certain amount of utility before a purchase is made. A good example is I drive a nice car that I bought brand new in 2012. It has a lot of features I wanted that I couldn't get in a less expensive vehicle and while it's 3 years old now and still fairly new, in 7 years it's going to be 10, not so new, and I'll still be owning it. The last car I bought for myself I had for 10 years and would have kept it longer, but the $$ needed for repairs was so high even my mechanic suggested I shouldn't do it. I don't need the latest and greatest to be happy. One look at my dinosaur (non smart) flip cell phone that came out in 2008 will tell you that. :-)

It's about balance for me. I own a business and certainly don't want to be poor, but being the monetarily richest person on my block is not a goal either. Accordingly, when my kids were in school I took a lot of time off and did a lot of volunteering in the school system, coached their respective Little League teams, maybe missed 5 games in the 4 years that my daughter was a 2 sport HS varsity athlete, and supported my son's group of set builders for many of the middle school and HS plays he was involved in. Those are life long memories for each of us and the fact that each, in some small manner, was another building block for the wonderful relationship we currently have is what's really important. Not the latest iPhone, not the biggest house, in fact not anything that's material.

Tune out the noise and look inward. That's where happiness will be found.

zjw

Maybe I have not hit that point yet but I feel circumstances can hinder ones ability to thrive. In time I've been able to look past some of my circumstances and still thrive. I've also been able to change my circumstances so that I could thrive. But there are still circumstances in my life that can hinder me from being the best that I can be. Perhaps I have not yet figured out how to thrive yet with them in place?

Notice I say thrive not survive. I've been able to simply manage despite terrible odds. But I dont want to simply survive myself I'd like to thrive and be happy etc..

In my case the location where i lived dragged me down. Perhaps because I allowed it or perhaps because I couldnt rise above that obstacle ? But I changed my circumstance moved my location and thrived as a result. I made due and managed while i was stuck in that situation. Maybe I was allowing it to get the best of me I'm not sure. But I dont regret making the move I made either.