Some More Thoughts About The Essentials: Unplugging

My last post I  wrote about balancing the essential again the urgent or, really, about my tendency to shove the essential aside for the urgent. I have been thinking about that very concept for days now, trying to be more aware of my actions and activities.

As part of this, I have found within myself the commitment to finally tackle the paperwork clutter that I let pile up in my study. I'm not talking about a small stack on my desk. I am talking about a voluminous stack, which I then shift to the bed, which I then shift to a paper sack, telling myself "I'll get to that soon." And then don't.

For the past several days, I have been dealing with the piles (yes, plural) in 15 minute shifts. I set my alarm for 15, then tell myself to sort through and make three stacks: Keep (and file away at the end of the 15 minutes), Recycle, Shred. I am embarrassed to say the Shred pile has been large, the Recycle pile larger. The Keep pile? Small potatoes.

This morning I tackled the paper pile in two separate sessions (with enough interlude between the two that I did not feel overwhelmed by the task before me). While doing so, I came across some notes, meant to be a blog post, from just after we got back from vacation. Here they are, as they perhaps tell a story related to the essential:

Unplugging

 When we went on vacation, I left behind my Chromebook because it pushed the limits of my minimal packing too far.

12 days without email or Facebook. That was interesting.

And eye opening.

Two things I learned:

1. Despite my protestations to the contrary (and reading books as much as I do), my mindless perusal of social media has steadily increased over time, especially on weekends.
2. Along with that increase, my time to do other things decreases.What other things? Write letters, read, prep zucchini and apples for freezing [remember, this was written in early September], or just sit and luxuriate in the moment.

So now I am looking at all my electronic tethering: the computer, the Chromebook, the phone. I carry a flip phone, not a smart phone, so the temptations are fewer, but there is still texting. And based on that and my vacation experience, I am ready to take a few more steps:

1. I am already not on my computer/Chromebook most evenings after 6:00 (and often earlier). What if I eliminated Saturday and Sunday too? Or only use Word and Numbers for work-related or Clinic purposes? Or only turn it on an hour one of those days for those reasons and also to blog? 
2. When I am at work, I carry my phone. I always have it on me or nearby at home. I always carry it in my car if I am running errands or driving to a school; with a 14+ year old car, I want a way to call someone if I get stranded. But what if I stopped carrying it at all when we (Warren and I) go out? There is no news, good or bad, that the delay in seeing the message would make a difference. 

I am penning these thoughts sitting at a rehearsal an hour away from home. I left my phone at home. I'm not sure of the time because I am not wearing a wristwatch and to wear one again would require a new battery. But with the phone gone, I am also not glancing constantly to see what the time is or whether anyone has texted me or tried to call.

So what if I tried this? What if I tried stepping away even more?

I know there will be exceptions from time to time. We should be reestablishing weekly chats with Ramona soon and those will fall in the early evening because of the time difference between here and there. There will an occasion, most likely related to my writing the Symphony press releases, which will find me on the computer some evening.

It is hard to break the lines of the electronic. One of my favorite minimalists is Anthony Ongaro at Break The Twitch. He came up with that name to describe the mindless clicking of the mouse to make yet another unnecessary purchase, but it fits here as well. My twitch is not to buy, but to click mindlessly across sites.

So what do I hope to get out of breaking my own twitch? I hope to be more mindful. I hope to be more thoughtful. I hope to deepen my personal connections to my work, to my day, to my marriage, to my friends.

To my community.

I hope to be more connected to my self.

*******
That's where my notes ended. They were written about a month ago. In the time since, I have managed to turn off or not even start the computer most (all?) evenings and even some weekend days (this is not one of them, obviously, but it IS going off soon). I have found it even easier to turn down the phone and only check for messages/calls occasionally.

And this goes back to thoughts of the essential. It is essential for me to connect outside of the electronic world. It is essential for me to reclaim that time.

Let's see where this goes.