Thursday, September 22, 2011

ditched the phone

{my mom}

i did it.

i went without texting (or turning on my phone, for that matter)... for a week.

this is huge.

this is front-headliner news.


major texter didn't text for a week.

i wasn't grounded. i wasn't in trouble. i did it because i wanted to. just to prove to myself that i could do it. that i could make it happen. my family didn't even know i was doing it.

and you know what?

it felt good.


sure, i was bored (at times). sure, i missed texting my buds. sure, there were times when i felt like pushing that button to turn it on. but i didn't.

instead of texting... i read. while riding in the truck, looked out the window. went outside. waited to talk to the person until the next time i saw them, like at church. talked to my family. rode the horse. wrote a lot. earned money. played card games with the family. honed my driving skills by driving the truck around town with mom in the passenger seat. worked on my 'gifts from God' list. focused on one thing at a time and tried to live in the moment.

this was all good stuff. and i had been missing it most days because i had been zoned in on my phone. tapping my lil' fingers away... talking about stuff that didn't really matter. wasting time.

"i should do this more often."
i hear of people ripping themselves away from tv, sweets, fast food, computers and the like. next time, i think i'll try taking a break from the internet for a week. or the whole computer, for that matter. {then again, maybe i should take baby steps to wean myself away... start with email, then blogger, then the whole sha-bang.}

or maybe i'll ditch caffeine for the week. that would be epic. {but definitely couldn't ditch internet and caffeine the same week... that would be disastrous. i'd probably be one, big monster.}

because life's too short to be best friends with your stuff... and miss what's important.
 

{two sweet buddies}

11 comments:

Marli said...

fabuloous post, mem! i have been thinking of unplugging for the weekend....and then maybe doing it for a week. :) The bad thing is...i kinda need the internet and computer for schoolwork...;(

Kayla Bernardez said...

That's awesome! Congratulations!

I could go a week without texting easily. I'm not a big texter. Internet, on the other hand....yikes. haha Not sure I'd be able to do that! If you can pull that one off...you'll be my hero.

Caffeine is easy. But maybe that's just because I quit drinking it around 10 years ago, and only drink it on special occasions when I'm DYING of thirst and there's absolutely nothing else to drink.

Anonymous said...

I can't wait to see the decrease in the phone bill! ;) Way to go Mem!
Mom

Annie said...

Congrats! I've done the same thing, from my phone, from blogging, from facebook. {Then I got rid of facebook entirely.} It's just good to have that reminder that life does gone on without modern technology!

Megan Marie said...

ok ok i don't know what my deal is... but i just watched soul surfer which makes me cry every time cause i know i need to be more positive like that girl! and then i read your post and the tears come again! haha

that's a huge deal! congrats on doing that! i loved the part where you said you looked out the window while driving. made me think about how i don't do that! sheesh! things i take for granted.

Laura Elizabeth said...

Congrats, that's huge!! I took a weekly break from facebook and it was SO lovely. I mean, although now I'm back into it like I never left! I think it's great to take a break every now and again- but most importantly to take the lessons you learned with you. I need to learn that lesson again :)

Allison said...

thanks for stopping by my blog! this is awesome! i am a huge advocate of giving up technology every once in a while!

Anonymous said...

UM you are too cute! Thank you for the sweet post on my blog, and I love how you went a week without your phone! That is pure discipline.

I am your newest follower :)

Emma Frances said...

I totally did this a few years ago! Just for fun and it was such a huge change in my life but definitely a good thing for me to do. I don't know if I could do it now. I've thought about trying it again but now I use my phone even more--dang smart phones! Good luck trying internet without a week! I would die! Which probably just means that I really should try it as well! Haha.

Thanks for coming by my blog! I'm checking out yours now and loving it! :] I'm following!!

Sandra said...

Thanks for the comment on my blog. And congrats for going without a phone for a week! I think I could also do it, but there's no way I could be without the internet for a week. I used to be fine without it when I was traveling, but I have to have it now. I go insane if I don't catch up with the latest news/blogs and check my e-mail/blogger. :D

http://sandra-thepuzzleofmylife.blogspot.com

urban muser said...

good for you! sometimes it helps to unplug.