Unnecessary Stress…

A number of television programs, newspaper articles and websites have been devoting time and space to discuss what has changed over the past decade. Yet I haven’t seen any coverage of one change that has caused me to have nightmares… No joke. Years ago basic cable introduced me to “The Learning Channel”. At that time the purpose of “The Learning Channel” was pretty self explanatory, it was to help you learn different things. A number of shows were “How to” shows in which hosts would show viewers how to do home repairs, gardening techniques, craft projects, etc. If you know me AT ALL you realize that I’m not a “Handyman”… Yet even I loved watching how in just a few episodes an entire house could be built or a yard completely landscaped with waterfalls, trees and flowers.

Over the last decade however “The Learning Channel” has chosen to distance itself from the “How to” programming niche, they have even distanced themselves from their original name by only referring to the channel as “TLC”. So why would this cause me to lose sleep? Two words…

The Duggar’s

(This picture was taken several years ago...)

If you aren’t familiar with the Duggar Family, they are the family featured on “18 Kids and Counting” (formally know as “17 Kids and Counting”… That is until they had the 18th kid). In this post I’m not mocking or belittling the Duggar’s for any reason. I feel fine about their very conservative values, their desire to have as many children as they can, etc. Of course I may have a slight issue with giving each child a “J” name (Josh, Jana, John-David, Jill, Jessa, Jinger, Joseph, Josiah, Joy, Jedidiah, Jeremiah, Jason, James, Justin, Jackson, Johannah, Jennifer, Jordyn, Josie… It’s now 19 kids since 12/10/09) but that’s just me. In my mind I tend to put myself in whatever situation I’m watching or reading about. And as I watch this show I feel stressed out about constantly being around that many people, the noise, the laundry, food preparation and keeping track of everyone. One would think I could just stop watching this show to relieve this unnecessary stress. Sadly the Duggar’s have begun making appearances in my dreams… And usually our interactions with each other aren’t pleasant (in one recent dream all 18 kids, 2 parents and 1 daughter-in-law cut in front of me as I was waiting in a line).

This isn’t the only TLC program that is causing me to stress out; some of their health specials which focus on individuals with rare or extreme health problems are much more intense. I never even watched the “special” about “The Tree Man” (a man with a rare skin condition that makes it look like he is turning into a tree), but the commercials terrified me so much that on a regular basis I have to sing a song in my head to get rid of the mental images that have been burned into my head. Don’t even get me started about the night I watched the primetime lineup of “Half-Ton Man, followed by Half-Ton Mom, followed by Half-Ton Teen”.

(I was going to include a picture of the half-ton mom and the tree man... But I don't want ya'll to go through what I have been going through)

Yes, as TLC has evolved over the past 10 years there have been some additions that don’t stress me out… “What Not to Wear”, “Little People Big World”, and “Jon and Kate Plus Eight” come to mind... On second thought the Dad on “Little People Big World” often stresses me out with all of his big ideas and plans and the Jon and Kate divorce also made me feel sad. So I’m guessing well over 90% of the things aired on TLC causes me to shake my head or increases my stress at least a little. So what is the point of this post? I’m not really sure… But hopefully getting this off my chest will cause the dream versions of the Duggar family and the Tree Man to leave me alone for a bit.