Solitude… We all need it, but in the world we live in today, how exactly do we get it?
Mine came pretty easily. Like many of the greatest things in my life, my solitude came with my best friends & their dog Leon, This time, on a vacation in Lake Tahoe, NV. The best of all the best, spending time with friends, surrounded fresh air, combined with a constant eyeful of the most epic views.
When we mapped out this trip to Lake Tahoe, I knew I wanted to make this trip unique. I planned to take 72 hours to disconnect & recharge. I know for the trip, I wanted to set some personal goals while creating some boundaries to abide by.
I planned it in advance. I totally strategized everything! Before the trip I reached out to everyone I am currently working on any projects with & let them know I would be iunreachable by phone starting Tuesday– Thursday and I would be replying to everyone on Friday. Simple! I made sure I caught up on all of the orders from my store & I made sure I got them all to the post office. I also made sure I was sending out my holiday cards, planning them to land during the 72 hours I was planning to take my time of solitude, friends & nature. I wanted to have smiles happening, while I was taking my little break! My boundaries started with only allowing my self 60 minutes total in the 72 hours to be online. That meant everything, Social Media, Phone, Text, Email, everything. Believe it or not, including the time I spent setting my line ups for my fantasy football teams I only used 40 minutes of that 60! Amazing right?
How I did it…
Day 1: No phone. I knew my friends would have their phones handy to take some pictures, but I knew I could not be trusted with my phone day 1 of my disconnect. The temptation is too great to check a message, check email or go onto social media. By sticking to this, I enjoyed the magestic views of the mountains through my eyes instead of falling into the temptation of taking pictures with my phone, then wasting more time I could be observing something new by looking over the picsI just took. The Day 1 no phone, no internet rule was key. I realized how much more observant I was. Everything from the view to the smell of the fresh, crisp air, everything was magnified. I arrived, in the moment & it was powerful.
Day 2: I knew I would want to carry a phone for the day. We were going on a drive around the mountain where we could make some stops to hike & sight see. To avoid distraction I carried my back up phone. My backup phone has all of my apps on it, so there would be some temptation with social media & emails, but no one has the number, even me, I have to look it up on the phone lol. I don’t use this phone as a phone at all. It is a blank canvas more like a play tool & with no one having the number, it is easy to carry interruption free. It s also a 7 plus so it takes great pics & it has some fun editing apps loaded on it for me to play with some photos as I went. That evening I air dropped photos from the day between my friends & while I was sending the photos I check in with twitter, a minute on facebook & I was done. 10 minutes max. It was an exciting 10 minutes seeing my Holiday Cards reposted with joy on my time line!
Day 3: Thursday is a mandatory day for me to tinker with my line ups in my fantasy football teams, I planned to be up early, give it 20 minutes and spend the last day of my trip away from technolgoy & closer with my friends.
What I learned through this-
Connecting with friends without the distraction of technology brings us back to the pure beauty of living in the moment. This is still an important way that we can build strong, close, life long friendships. I have had these friends way before we were all carrying cell phones, so it came naturally to just enjoy the company.
We had this incredible pier to walk out to.. Pure tranquility..
Every night we walked out with Leon to watch the sunset. I love these next 2 pics!
I learned that I feel incredible after this 72 hour break!!
By setting a time limit of 60 minutes in 72 hours that I would be allowed to be online I created a rule. That rule was easier to follow than I could have ever imagined. As a matter of fact, I only used 40 minutes of my alloted 60 minutes internet time.
I enjoyed everything so much more. I soaked in so much more & I will probably remember more of this trip than many other trips that I have taken, since most of them are consumed with social media, photos, emails, apps etc. I will enjoy those types of trips even more knowing that I can still take a trip like this in a small 72 hour time frame in between the chaos is all the solitude I need.
I will admit I missed my communication with so many of you so much. I did’t check my email when I got to the airport until I wrote this post for you! #solitude
I am back at it, prepping for tomorrow #FantasyFootballFridays
