It’s time for another one of my semi-annual self-adjustment breaks. When I find I’m in a rut, or spending too much time indulging in time-wasting, unhealthy endeavors, it means it’s time to take a good, hard look at my life and discard the unneeded, unwanted, and unnecessary.

I’ve got a lot going on right now, all of it important. I’m trying to write a novel. I’m trying to finish upgrades on my house. I’m trying to be a good parent, a good husband, and a good friend. And I’m recovering from surgery to correct my deviated septum. (Long term prognosis: I’ll be able to breathe! Short term prognosis: Oh god, my face!)

So, I’m going to spend the month of May abstaining from several psychologically unhealthy habits.

First, I’m taking a news sabbatical. This especially applies to political news, which tends to suck me in and slaughter any spare moments I have in the day, moments better spent writing.

Second, I’m going to refrain from an activity I’ve been thinking of as “exhaustion surfing.” You know that nighttime moment, right around 10:30, when you think to yourself, “Self… You ought to be in bed, Self.” And then you stay up another hour surfing the web without any real direction or purpose, and gain absolutely nothing, not even mild entertainment, from the wasted time and lost sleep? Yeah… No more of that.

Third, I’m going to strictly limit what I do on the internet in daylight hours. The internet is a useful tool, but I’m not using it as one right now. I’m using it to distract and exhaust myself. So for the month of May, I will use it as a writing research assistant, and a communications medium. That’s not to say I will avoid all other uses of the web entirely — for instance, to watch a show on Hulu one must go to hulu.com — but what I won’t do is surf aimlessly. Too much of that is wasted time, night or day.

Finally, I’m going to read a book. I’ve gotten out of the habit, and reading is good for my writer brain. Failing to read is a bad habit all by itself, and it’s high time I broke this one.