Everyone’s dinner ritual is different. Whether it’s eating at the table with friends and family, scarfing something down on the go, or catching up on your shows – oh, you already watched all your shows? Okay, that’s fine, we can work around it, just follow these simple tips and you’ll be looking forward to dinner again in no time!
Be present and eat mindfully.
Studies show that the best way to really connect with your food is to have no distractions at all. Yeah, it’s mind-numbingly boring and you’d rather literally watch paint dry than eat your dinner without an hour-long HBO drama playing in the background, but ultimately this change will only serve to benefit you in the long ru– hey! I can see you pulling up YouTube under the table! Stop that!
Find something else to distract yourself with.
Okay, so, being present clearly isn’t doing it for you, but connecting with your food is overrated, anyways! To find something else to distract you, try calling a friend while they’re eating dinner with their partner, eating dinner with your partner (even though they’re, like, super busy at work right now), or reading that book you’ve been working on finishing for a year! There are a million other ways to distract yourself at dinnertime besides watching your shows. Sure, that was your special time to disassociate and, honestly, the only thing you looked forward to every day – but reading To The Lighthouse while hunched over a bowl of spaghetti will fill that void, probably.
Change up your routine?
So, your copy of To The Lighthouse is back in its old role of coaster…that’s okay! Maybe the reason you’re finding it impossible to eat dinner without your shows is simply because you got used to that routine, but all good things start from leaving your comfort zone! Consider eating dinner while taking a new route home from work, or maybe join a workout class and just eat dinner there! No matter what you choose, simply changing up your routine will be sure to help you forget about the gut-wrenching emptiness you felt after finishing House of the Dragon.
If all else fails, it might be time to do some reflecting and accept the fact that, at your core, you’re an iPad kid. There’s no eating without your shows, so find a new show. We hear Succession is coming back? Until then, you can always use Candy Crush or a random YouTube series to distract yourself for the 15 minutes a day you dedicate to shoveling food into your mouth. You are who you are!
