At the end of last week I decided to do something that I haven’t done quite a while: I wanted to leave all my devices (laptop, tablet and phone) turned off over the weekend. I’ve been using these devices way to much lately and I’ve also noticed that they make me really unhappy.
So, after I had finished what I needed to do on Friday, I turned my laptops off and put them away. Before I went to bed I checked my phone one last time, then I turned it off too. For the first time in forever the last thing I saw before I closed my eyes was not the screen of my phone, but the page of a book. Normally I scroll through my phone until I fall asleep – this time I had to do something different. But even though I’m used to falling asleep while listening to some sort of video, it was surprisingly easy to do the same without any noise.
On Saturday morning it wasn’t my phone that woke me up, but my watch. It was unusual to not pick my phone up first thing in the morning, because normally I listen to music as soon as I wake up. Without any devices turned on I couldn’t do that of course. So I had a quiet morning – and I loved it.
With the rest of the weekend it was exactly the same. I loved not being ‘online’ all the time. I finished 3 books last weekend, one of them I even read from start to finish. I can’t remember a weekend where I’ve ever read this much. Inbetween reading I was either sleeping, thinking about life or talking to my family. But the best thing was: I didn’t miss my phone or any of my other devices at all. Yes, I missed the music I always play and I missed a few people. However, I would have also missed those people if I had had my phone turned on.
I don’t remember a time where I felt as free as I felt the last weekend. I didn’t have the pressure of being available all the time, and I didn’t feel the need to compare myself to those ‘perfect’ girls on Instagram. Instead, I spent the weekend doing things I love to do. And I think, I’ll do that more often from now on. I’ll put my phone away and just enjoy ‘being’.