Offline is the New Luxury
I found this quote online, when I was looking out for a good tagline for my blog and somehow it got stuck in my head . I lately wanted to pen down my thoughts on detaching from digital world. Since we all stuck in this pandemic wave for a year , I believe this would be a good time to share my thoughts and experience on how I got tangled with digital lifestyle.
Interestingly digital world is our oyster, where we could get anything done. I feel like I have different understanding of it now, you know, our understanding on anything and everything will evolve as we grow, how beautiful Isn’t it? Gadgets and smartphones have been a part of our lives holding world full of possibilities and opportunities. You see, that’s all well and good but diving in this sea we often miss to look out for ourselves. With all this talk about FOMO (Fear of missing out) , I believe we should talk more on how we are missing our time on the roads of development. I am being honest here, I could have spent some quality time with myself on understanding and developing my interest but the notion of proving myself so called “Busy me” has took a step back on exploring. What do we really get on projecting we are busy all the day? we slip to enjoy little things , At least I did.
Technology isn’t the problem here. It’s all about how we use them.
Lately we almost got stuck in work from home (which proved to be good in some ways) and so me . As an IT professional, my daily routine would be grabbing my laptop , attending meetings and completing the follow-ups and tasks , sleep and repeat. At least to me, initially work from home was totally exciting where I don't have to travel (Which would be more than an hour) and I could get some extra time to sleep. I was so curious that I would be having enough time to take care of me and my interests. But all I did was completing the tasks , follow-ups, escalations and meetings. To be honest over the period, I have to admit that I was comfortable in this bubble. You might ask me what will I do in my free time? All I would do is simply scroll through the notifications and Instagram. My life was on a hamster wheel. The more you talk to yourself the more you unveil your true self. You think that you might have been doing a right thing in life but I tell you, take a pause and look back . And that's what I did, I paused everything and took a step back , That is the day I realized that its not only about your job, its all about how you enjoy little things through this journey. I believe that we (often) might stuck in this phase while we travel, but we should never forget to take a break and taste simple pleasure.
I am truly happy that I started exploring my interests . Well this blog is one such proof. Here , I have recorded few things which we should really look into it. I think its high time to do phone detox. Enjoy simple pleasures in life. Go for a walk, have some real conversations with people, share some love, fostering personal contacts(Calling people in our contact list). Instead of looking out for “Hey Google !” and “Alex” for playing our favorites , we shall sit down and sing which doubles our happiness.
The trouble is we think we are happy in digital world. But the reality is we are detaching from reality. Scientist believes that technology will take over humans. Let’s not lose ourselves in this digital transitions. So, instead of lying on the couch and scrolling this article or scrolling through social media or procrastinating on doing something new just because you “don’t know how and where to start”. Go on and scoot now, learn instead of being sloth.
JUST DO IT !!!
I don't want this to be just a reading piece. I want it to be helpful to you as well. So here are the few points that I’m working on.
Set Timers
Its been one such useful method for me to manage my time on working or on social media. Set timers for the work you do ,say about 30/40 minutes to complete a particular task. Once you hit the time, its a reminder to take a break from what you have been working. you be in half way or edge on completion, timer reminds you to take a break from work and rejuvenate your mind. This is for the people who refuses to take break. Its the best time management technique and constantly reminds me to take care of myself when am burning out.
Set boundaries
Its one such efficient method to control ourselves from working over hours. It’s truly efficient for the people like me who tends to work extra hours. Being honest here, I used to work extra hours and get things done. I am happy that I started to set boundaries on my work. We need to break a notion that work is not everything in life. NO, It’s not. It’s not worth your life. It’s your life, your family and your interests takes upper hands, everything else takes backseat. Always Remember that.
To-Do list or Bullet Journals
Having to-do list itself takes first place in my to- do list. LOL. Jokes apart, I have seen many people following to do list and in recent times I have started maintaining it. I used to list down all the tasks that I need to accomplish at the end of day and challenge myself to complete it. It helps me to keep track of things that I wanted to do from not missing out. I suggest you to try this.
Enjoy and Laugh
After all this is our life and we live once. Enjoy and take pride on things you do be it small or big , make it worth a while because that is all that matters.