One Week Down…

We are well into the New Year and I’m happy to report I survived my first day of “un-plugging.”  It is hard people!  Really hard!  It’s especially hard when you are alone.  I ran a couple of errands and kept my phone turned off, so I wasn’t tempted during those times.

However, while I was home, it was hard not to turn on the computer to look at Facebook or see pictures of Gabriel.  After the initial few hours, I found myself busy with small projects…cleaning out a drawer or two, working on getting my apartment out of holiday mode, and I even made some vegetarian chili (not because I wanted to but because I didn’t have any ground beef).

I wrote some notes as follow-up to Christmas cards and I cleared my dining room table.  All of these things needed to be done and with the planned quiet time, I was able to be quite productive.

Then I looked at the clock and it was only 6pm.  I realized that this was going to be sooooo much harder than I thought.  I'm thinking that you aren't supposed to watch TV, but I couldn't stand the quiet for that long, so I had it on for a few hours.  That may be cheating so no judging!

You know, I don’t really consider myself glued to my phone like some people, but I really did feel the start of withdrawal symptoms after several hours.   Fortunately, I went to sleep on Saturday night, knowing that the morning would bring just a few more hours of this “quiet” time. 

Sunday morning, my first instinct was to grab my phone and see what had happened overnight.  Instead, I got up, enjoyed the view of my tidied-up apartment and worked on getting some more bins in the closet.  My guest room closet is Christmas storage and getting those darn bins back in there is not easy.

By the time 12 noon rolled around, I prepared an iced tea and settled down to check out emails and Facebook.  I was “hungry” for what was happening around me and beyond.

I believe I am going to survive this one day a week "un-plug."  This one day is just the beginning and I do think I made progress.  I need to write in my journal and work on more de-cluttering.  With 24 hours each week, I think I can continue to see progress.

Did you know that National Day of Unplugging 2020 is observed on Friday, March 6, 2020?  Yes, there is one day a year devoted to this movement.  For me, this is one of two days that I absolutely cannot unplug.  Friday, March 6 is setup day for The Gala and I will literally be glued to my phone…and of course, Gala day, March 7, I have way too much happening.  I will probably take two days the following week to make up for my “day off” of unplugging. 

I encourage you to give it a try…I don’t expect you to do more than one day a year, but so far, I think it’s going to be something I like.  Withdrawal symptoms eventually go away, right?