I Unplugged for 10 Days: Part 7

Dolly the Dog likes to relax, too.  

Below is an account of my attempt to unplug completely from email and the internet for 10 days while on a stay-cation.  For those of you who haven’t heard the term, a stay-cation is a local vacation.

Day 7 – Thursday, April 28

I haven’t been on email or the Internet since Tuesday. Woo hoo!  The thing I have learned from this experiment is not so much HOW I would feel about unplugging and not checking email [by the way, I still have no desire WHATSOEVER to look at email], it’s more about our need to truly honor a vacation.  As I indicated in my first post, we are too connected.  We need to unplug in order to recharge. 

Also, as someone who is always on a schedule, I’m realizing that I really enjoy NOT having a set schedule.  Sure, I had a long list of things I wanted to get done on this stay-cation, and some ARE getting done, but not all, and I’m not letting myself stress about it.  Normally, I’d stress. 

Today I was supposed to drive up to Lancaster, Pennsylvania to see my sister Lisa who is a hair stylist.  She was going to cut and color my hair.  Unfortunately, the weather forecast was calling for severe thunderstorms and threats of tornados and I would be driving right into the storm.  I didn’t want to do that, so I called her and said I’d come another time.  Honestly, it was a bit of a relief.  I still needed to do major grocery shopping for the gathering tomorrow and a round trip to PA and back, with cut and color in between, was a bit much.  Yes, that IS a problem of mine:  trying to squeeze too much into the day.  I rejoiced at knowing I was not going to feel harried.  I really hate that feeling.

So I got my shopping done and got to walk my dog Dolly at a leisurely pace and was able to greet boyfriend when he returns from his business trip with a clear conscious knowing I’ve taken care of all the big tasks.  I like this feeling.

It was nice not to rush.  So much of my life is rushing and trying to do too much in a small amount of time. I vow to not try to do this again when I get back to reality.  This stay-vacation world is NOT reality. 

The other thing I notice I’m doing while driving this week is that I let other cars go ahead of me and I let pedestrians cross the street in front of me.  Also, when I stand in line at a checkout, I let people go ahead of me.  I’m in no rush.  It is nice.  Sigh.  Is this because I’ve unplugged or is this because I’m on vacation or both? 

When I got a call from someone this week, I talked to them, but most people are doing a good job of not calling me because they know I want to unplug – and not just from email.  John and I did a bit of texting while he was out of town, but after he came back, I barely touched my phone.  Nice. 

When I told people I was going on vacation, they asked me where I was going and were hoping for my benefit that it was someplace tropical, but I didn’t really go anywhere.  I made two trips to Pennsylvania, but I mostly stayed at John’s in Takoma Park.  Unfortunately, he wasn’t there for the better part of 3 days since he was in New Orleans on business.  Some people may think that was not much of a vacation at all, but I enjoyed walking the boys to their bus stop with Dolly the Dog and meeting them at the bus stop at the end of the school day and not feel rushed.  

I’m relaxed.  Again, I ask if this is due to unplugging or from being on vacation?  I met if I were plugged in while on vacation, I wouldn’t feel this way.  When I tried to take 2 days off in March, I was on email both days for at least one hour or more.  I didn’t feel completely unplugged or relaxed or like I was on vacation. 

Next Post:  How I felt the first day back to work.