At the end, it went pretty well. Giving up going to sleep so late did help. I was encouraged to work out in the mornings as I was not so tired. I had time to get ready, therefore, I did not miss my bus. Also, I was not tired during school so I payed more attention. I am glad I had this experience, because although it was hard and boring some nights, it felt like I had absolute control of my life. My life did seem much more simple, just as Emerson once said, “Nothing is more simple than greatness; indeed, to be simple is to be great.” One day I hope to be great and for people to look up to me. I hope to have such control of my life that it becomes incredibly simple, and stress-free. Although I am back to going to sleep really late, one day, when I am not as stressed out from school, I will try this again as it did help my life. Either way, teenagers tend to fall asleep much later, but I should not and will not make that worse by staying up late watching T.V, or talking to my friends.

This challenge was successful for me however, at times it was very tempting to start watching TV again. Giving up my rut has had a positive effect on my life, as I have now realized that I don’t need to waste time watching TV, and that I can use my time effectively and do other things such as, reading and cooking. I am glad to have had this experience because, before I completed this challenge I never thought I could live without TV for one whole week! This experience has allowed me to use my time in a wiser manner and, has allowed me to get more work done without TV holding me down. I have been able to complete my homework earlier, as I do it straight after I get home from school. My life was more simplified because, I didn’t have to complete any homework at night or lose on any sleep. I felt more relaxed and prepared. Words from Thoreau that apply to my experience are: “It is remarkable how easily and insensibly we fall into a particular route, and make a beaten track for ourselves.”

Salem Tesfaldet

I am doing well with my plan as I haven’t watched TV at all so far however, I will admit I have been tempted to watch TV. The effect it’s had on my life is amazing since I’ve been able to get more done such as, completing my homework earlier so I have more time to read my books. I feel that I’m achieving a lot by giving up this rut because, I have resisted temptation to watch TV. Also, I feel like I don’t have to rely on TV to entertain me. My family and friends have been very shocked that I’ve been able to give up TV for this long. They also have reacted happily to this since I am not wasting my time on TV. Words that apply to where I am at this point in my plan are: “I left the woods for a good reason as I went there.”

Salem Tesfaldet

My rut is that every time I come home from school, I spend at least 2 hours watching TV. This makes my life less simple because, the time I’m wasting watching TV could be used to do something more useful, for example: doing homework, cleaning my room, and cooking. It will be difficult trying to break this habit because, I love watching TV and it’s something I have been doing for a long time. This experiment will help me be the person I want to be because; I want to be able to do more things without wasting my time simply watching TV. With the time saved, I will start and finish my homework earlier, I will be able to read more books, and learn to cook new dishes. I hope to learn that I don’t need to spend hours watching TV, when I could be doing something else worthwhile. Words from Thoreau that will inspire me are: “Perhaps it seemed to me that I had several more lives to live, and could not spare any more time for that one.”

Salem Tesfaldet

My plan so far is going okay. I want to go on my Netflix account really bad but than I remember that I am doing a project and I have to stick to it. Giving up my Wii has been a good thing, now I have more time to do school work/ homework and I get more sleep. In the begging I thought this was stupid and that if I use my Wii My teacher would not know but now I think it’s a good thing and I stay on task now instead of doing half of my homework and say I’m going to finish the other half after a game or movie. Over the weekend I was catching up on last work and my mom saw me on the kitchen table doing my work and she laugh at me and didn’t think I would last the rest of the week.

Giving up up my rut was okay because I was till cursing but not as much. it was kind of hard because I kept forgetting that I had to do this for a school assignment. Also some of my friends kept making me mad, and when I get mad I tend to curse. When I gave up my rut it had a positive effect in my life. It had a positive effect in my life because I found other words that I could use to express my feelings. It also kind of had a negative effect on me because sometimes I would forget that this was for a transfer task. Yes, my life was simplified  just a little because it felt better that I could go a week without cursing.  When we had to give up a rut it became an experiment because “All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better” (Emmerson). This means if you wanna try something different go for it because you may never know how your life is gonna turn out after you experiment.

Over all my Walden Plan went okay, it could have gone a lot better.  If I would have fully given up my rut, I believe that it would have had a positive effect on my life.  This experience has taught me that I can achieve a lot if I were to put my mind to it, so yes I am glad that I had this experience even though I did not do so good.  My life was not simplified it stayed the same through out the whole process, nothing changed. Emerson said “Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail.” These words will be the words that will forever go with me. This quote applies to my experience, because I failed in giving up my rut, but Emerson tells the reader of this quote that only because you failed does not mean that you can not try again and achieve it.  I will keep trying to get rid of my rut in hope that one day I will achieve.

In mid-week of my Walden plan I had already failed various times, it was pretty difficult to give up my rut.  If I would have given up my rut without failing, my vocabulary would have expanded, because I would have found other words to use other than curse words.  Emersons words “All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.” Has helped me through out this process.  It helped me because as I tried to give up my rut I learned new things about myself, and I also realized that if I do give up cursing t will be something good, because I will become a better person.  At mid-week i felt like giving up my rut was highly impossible, just because I had failed pretty bad.  I do not think that many people had noticed that I gave something up.  Therefore, not many people noticed that I was giving up cursing.

my walden plan blog 3

My plan went great because I started to watch less of  Television. Giving up the rut had a positive effect on my life because i  got to use my time more wisely and on important things i have to do. I am glad that i had this experience it thought me a lot more about life and what I was missing in it. When you try to stay away from the things that keeps you isolated and makes you waste your time it will feel different all the sudden. You will show more importance to your life and people surrounded around you. My life was not that simplified but it seemed good to have a change, it feels more special. The best way to express life is by saying “the price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it” ( Thoreau). It means your life matters more and you cannot exchange it for anything else in the world. Like how my family laughed at me before when I told them about my rut after that I proved it to them that I can do it if I want to. After believing in myself and knowing I can do it if I want to I see my life differently. Now on I am spending my life differently with my family, paying more attention in school and focusing on education. Everyone can change their life if they just believe in themselves because everyone can make a difference.