DAY 2: Switching Off

Today has been a continuation of what can only be considered as miraculously warm temperatures for a Scottish June and I love that everyone in the proximity of that weather is chirpy and happy. I continued my latest habit of walking until my feet hurt. I live in an area where not a lot of people know me which does make me feel very free in a pretty odd way. To me there’s nothing worse than leaving your house for some ‘alone time’, putting on some lovely music and having to yank your earphones out your ear a gazillion times because people bump into you and suddenly want to hear your life story again. Gosh, I sound anti social but I love an hour or two to myself.

 Lately I’ve been challenging myself to turn my phone off for 2 hours every day in the afternoon so I can get a bit more detached. For me, the premise of waiting on communication is draining and that’s how it feels when I text. For example, there will be a guy I like and I’ll be completely head over heels and text him frantically four texts in a row before he replies 3 hours later. But in those 3 hours, I would’ve checked my phone pretty much non-stop and I get that weird twitch where I feel like I can hear my phone vibrate and I jump to it. I kind of became obsessed with that, so I stopped the crazy vibe I was totally giving off and just decided that I don’t need my phone. Now when my phone runs out of battery or if I lost my phone, I would be like ‘okay’. Where as before, if my phone had gotten lost I would’ve been hysterical, which is such a stupid premise because I’m getting so emotionally attached to technology. I also turn my phone off during the night in order to get a healthy, long, undisturbed sleep. 

It’s so relieving for me to have that detachment now in the sense that I am truly getting ‘me time’, in that ‘me time’ I’ve been doing a lot of photography, which is really nice to keep me busy. I know I sound like I’m getting all ‘hippy dippy’ but it’s so comforting to just turn off and appreciate much simpler things and live in a much simpler time within the context of antisocial social media

. I totally recommend just taking that hour or two to zone out, obviously some people have significant commitments and they can’t always follow something like that – but even turning it off while you sleep, it feels so good. It’s definitely improving my life for the better. 

Ideally I just want to enjoy my life more, and I don’t want the anxiety of my phone all the time. It’s refreshing, and it’s so lovely to live like it’s 2004 in the jostle that is 2016.