Unplug with me!
Put your money where your mouth is
It’s a gorgeous day today: Sun is out, the sky is clear; it’s the first of the month and I have the day off of work— A perfect day to spend offline. In the midst of my noon yoga class, mind wandering aimlessly to ignore the discomfort of having to hold a downward dog for a count of infinity, in feeling, not reality, I thought of National Day of Unplugging happening today at sundown and wondered if any of you saw my share last week and will be participating. Initially I wasn’t going to participate this year. For such challenges, I like to go completely offline; no phone, nothing at all, and wonder and wander around aimlessly. Last year, I had to walk home in a blizzard, past midnight, in heels because the bus wouldn’t come and I didn’t have a way to call Uber, or anyone. I would be lying if I said I didn’t delight in taking in trees covered in fresh snowfall, trudging through reality daring myself to make it home intact, laughing at the silliness of my relentless pursuit to spend time offline. This year I didn’t feel the urgency, or rather I didn’t feel like putting my phone away.
That is until I’m twisting in uncomfortable poses to stretch and relax my nervous system that it dawned on me I can keep my phone. My phone does a few things, and does them all exceptionally well: Call, text, GPS, music. I have a few plans this weekend and I want to have access to reaching people and reaching places with the ease and convivence my dumb smartphone provides. Email can wait until Sunday.
With that in mind, I rushed to the library to write to you that unplugging doesn’t have to be an all or nothing affair, you can make it your own delight, and to unplug together! Turn your smartphone into a dumb phone and go on searching for delight. This is exactly what I will be doing this weekend, what I was going to do anyway, but for this challenge I won’t touch my laptop and check email in-between moments. If you have an iPhone, the Maps app is an excellent tool to look for business hours and their contact number to call with a question. Let’s say your pet requires a hair cut and you want to see if the place is open and need to call to book an appointment? Maps app provides all you need, including directions.
I’m running super late for lunch with my dad so I will wrap it up here. I hope you unplug with me and enjoy the adventure!
Here are a few posts I have written on time spent offline searching for delight:
Okay, bye!
Great idea. Give me some inspiration of how you spent your time