A Fish Out of Water

Photo by Jeff Chin (Creative Commons)

I recently unplugged from the internet completely for two days. Sadly, it had been over a year since I had disconnected from the world of Twitter, Facebook, ESPN, and Gmail for more than a day. Once I was not able to get online, my mind immediately wondered about email, blog entries, Twitter and if I had missed some kind of important news.

But at the same time, it was fantastic being disconnected. 

I enjoyed conversation with family. I listened to stories from friends and family members. I wrote. I caught a movie. I even had some time to work on songwriting. I had a good time without my laptop or iPod.

I now realize how much I needed a break.

I’m a bit of  tech geek, so I use many different websites and enjoy computers. Technology is fun for me, so it was news to me that I was in somewhat of a creative rut- and technology was the problem. I was forced to shift my perspective. I now realize how much time I waste when I am online. One website takes me to another (that takes me to another) and time slips by.  Time is extremely valuable. Don’t waste a second.

Taking a break is not optional.

I know I will need a break at some point, but by the time I get to that point, I am most likely at the point of exhaustion. To avoid burnout, I will just do it now and embrace the freedom.

I challenge you to disconnect one day a week.

It is much easier to disconnect when there is no choice. It is hard to close the browser window or put down the smart phone when it is entirely up to you. Can you do it? I could not – until now. I have decided that I need to take some time off each week from cyberspace.

Sunday is the perfect day to disconnect.

If I pull the plug on Sunday, I can refocus toward the upcoming week. Sunday is by far the slowest news day of the week. It is also the day with the least amount of web traffic. If you are a writer, I recommend you grab a notebook and use a pen. I find that my brain taps into new areas of creativity when I use actual paper versus Microsoft Word.

Trust me, just step away from the computer and it will be fine.