Unplugging from our technology is an important thing to practice if we’d like to live truly connected and fulfilling lives. For Day 2 of our 12 Days of Disconnection, we tapped into our incredible community for tips on how to unplug. Here’s Rebekah of Organize For Love.
While getting away in the middle of a hectic workweek, school semester, or just while living in the city may seem unrealistic, it may just be the remedy you need to unplug. Getting away can be possible when you plan ahead and incorporate regular breaks in your year. Breaks come in all shapes and sizes; big, small, daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly. Breaks allow you to unplug from the life that you’re always plugged into. I’ll share three simple ways to unplug.
Change Your Environment
If getting away isn’t possible, changing your environment is a great alternative. You can change your environment in small practical ways like; eating your daily lunch at a different location than you usually do, taking a different route home or to work, visiting a friend who lives in another neighborhood, working in a different part of your home, trying a new/different restaurant, going to a social event in a borough you don’t typically visit. You change your environment in big ways like; driving to a cabin in the woods or taking a plane to another country.
Spend a Weekend Off Social Media
If you can’t change your environment, spend a weekend away from social media. In order to plug into yourself, you must detach yourself from others. Try unplugging from social media Thursday night to Friday morning, but be intentional. Be sure to replace the hours you’d spend on Instagram with another activity. Sometimes, what’s important to us slips away while we scroll for hours thinking about all the things we wish we could do. Without intention, social media can pull you further away from yourself. Hence why it’s so important to unplug so you can return to the things that are important to you. Before you spend a weekend off social media, know why you’re doing it, and what you want to get out of it. Unplugging from social media for a weekend will help you to reconnect with yourself, giving you the (mental, emotional, and physical) space you need to return to you.
Go to Bed Without Your Phone
If unplugging for a weekend (or Thursday night to Monday morning like I suggested) feels too extreme, another simple way to unplug is by going to bed without your phone. This means leaving it out of your bed and out of your bedroom. I’m biased but this has to be the worst bedtime habit that we’ve adapted. When you wake up AND go to sleep tuned into your phone, it’s harder to create boundaries between your life and the world. The idea of unplugging gives you the opportunity to recharge, restore, and reacquaint yourself with yourself. But when you’re always plugged in, where is the time/space to do this? When we lay down as overstimulated as we are with our supercomputers, we rob ourselves of the opportunity for true rest. Remember that? It feels like we’re trying to return to simpler times. And it’s possible with just a few, small tweaks. Try having your phone on the other side of your room for a week, then try to leave it outside of your bedroom for a night or two. Done consistently, you will notice the quality of your sleep improve, and the pace of your morning slow down.
Ready to unplug? Book your Getaway here.