“Everybody gets so much information all day long that they lose their common sense.” - Gertrude Stein
In today’s world, it’s easy to find yourself logged in, online, posting, commenting, and responding almost every minute of every day. I am not an exception to this. Not at all.
Most of the days, the first thing I used to do in the morning was: grab my tablet. Hardly awake, I am checking my email, Instagram, Facebook. Even before I say good morning to my partner, have a coffee or breakfast….
Not such a good start of the day, I know! It would be so much better if I have the discipline to start with meditation, kiss my love and go slowly into the rhythm of my days. Right?
And my evenings were similar. Even though I only work in the mornings, I would look at my tablet after dinner, just to check if I got a reaction on that post, if my friend answered my message, if I had more likes or comments, did I get a reaction on that important email?
For some reason, even if I know that it’s something I could do less of, I kept doing it. Out of necessity? Or because I did not want to miss anything that’s going on? I found myself feeling like having a digital overload, imposed by myself! too much in my head, I needed to take a break from all the emails, texts, messages, comments, posts, and updates?
What really pushed my over the edge was the fact I had a very strong opinion when I saw young kids on tablets, playing games, doing whatever they were doing. I was very much against that, not good for them I heard myself say so many time. And in the mean time I was doing EXACTLY THE SAME!
Time to detox!
Time to make a change and time to stick to it.
Here are my 3 steps:
I started with the following question: How much time do I spend online daily, apart from my work hours? The answer: more then 4 hours a day!!! Quite a shock, I can tell you that…..
Next question that I asked myself was: How can I use these 4 hours in a different way, what are things I like to do instead? And the list was quite long, from reading a book, from trying out recipes for my restaurant (I do confess that I used the internet for finding recipes…..), I started a creative DIY project (paper mache), a small veggie garden in which I now to spend time during the day, and I started to do yoga once a week (with a recording of one of my yoga teacher friends). And you will be amazed by how fun it is to de-clutter your house, get rid of all those clothes you don’t fit for many years already. Or to reorganise things in your kitchen while waiting for that wonderful new cake to be ready. I have been taking walks in the area, making pictures and short movies to show my friends where I live. I went on short trips with my partner in the area: the waterfall, the beach. Visited my friend for a coffee (brought my freshly baked cake).
I changed my personal agenda: no tablet in the bedroom in the evenings, no checking anything online until I am in my office in the mornings, plan time to cook and try out those recipes and try them out together with my partner, my friend and her family. And inform people that you cannot be reached after a certain time.
I have to say, I am not consistent every day, and I do fall back into my old ways every now and then. But in general: I do like that I have made myself less depending on staring on my tablet and I can surely recommend it.
And if you like to give it a try, but are not able to change your routine so drastically as I did, or only have one hour a day to spent any way you like it; why don’t you start by doing this every Friday? Or the last week of every month?
Don’t be afraid to disconnect. It’s good for you.
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