Casual Fridays - Unplugging: Can You Do It?
Posted by Lisa Hendey in Just me on Friday, February 19, 2010 8:30 AM
Last weekend, I had the good fortune to take a trip down to Disneyland with my husband and boys. We met my sister Erin, her husband David and my adorable nephews Evan and Tyler for three days of “the happiest place on earth”.
For me, the trip was incredibly well planned. I’ve been burning the midnight oil for the past few weeks with “book launch mania”, embracing the many wonderful opportunities coming my way during the release of The Handbook for Catholic Moms. It’s been the most wonderful kind of busyness, and yet I could feel the fatigue beginning to drag me down a bit mentally and spiritually.
Normally, when I travel, my laptop is in tow. I bring cameras, audio recorders, and a plethora of various cords and cables - heaven forbid you should forget something! Well, I decided early last week to treat this trip as a respite, and to unplug as much as possible. I’ll confess that I did bring my iPhone, to keep on top of easy to handle emails, but I did my best to keep it stowed as much as possible over the weekend.
The preparations to unplug were painful - lining up four days of blog posts, anticipating things that might happen in my absence, and trusting that the world would indeed continue to spin properly if I didn’t respond to things for a few days. On Saturday morning, I reiterated to Greg that I needed a break and asked him to help me stay on target over the weekend.
The end result—I survived! I actually felt an incredible relief from taking a bit of a break, and found myself renewed and refreshed when I sat back down at my desk on Tuesday morning. During Lent, I am going to completely unplug on Sundays. It’s something I’ve long wanted to do and attempted several times, but have failed at. Now I know with confidence that it is the right thing to do.
Have you unplugged lately? Maybe you’re taking this Lenten season to cut back a bit on your elective Internet use. How difficult is it for you to let go, to turn off the screens, and to trust that it will all be there waiting for you when you return?
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