The Power of Unplugging: My Digital Detox Experience

So today's topic is about unplugging. Now, I just. I went to Mexico for, like, five days, right? I left on Friday, came back on Tuesday. I was in a friend's wedding and I was on the plane and I was feeling, like, a little bit of anxiety. And I was feeling the anxiety also of, like, connecting with my wife and my daughter and, like, what was going on with them. And I just texted them and said, hey, I'm thinking of completely unplugging. And I'm thinking that I'm not even going to be in touch with you two.

And they texted back with little hugs or kisses or, you know, basically like, go for it. Yeah, we're cool. We're fine. We're fine without you. Which is great, right? Because I mean, like, that's. That's part of a healthy relationship that I didn't always have experience of is like, yeah, we can unplug. So I'm like, okay, well, what's this? What is this going to look like? No tv, no movies, no computer. I left my computer home. I didn't even bring it with me. Then what about the phone? What am I going to do with my phone?

For the most part, my phone was on airplane mode. And people knew not to text me for the most part, unless it was urgent. And occasionally I would turn it off of airplane mode. There was texting going on between the bridal party and with the groomsmen. And there was some other texting kind of happening, you know, within Mexico, but other than that, it was like I was just present. And I think that's what unplugging really gives us. Part of unplugging was making sure that I always had plenty of time just for myself, not just with the people that I was hanging out with and that I had time with them.

I'm in 12 step program, and we had some impromptu 12 step meetings, which were great. Being mindful, meditating daily, saying prayers daily. But man, did it feel good. Like, I had no. The beautiful thing is I wasn't sure how it would go. I had no anxiety about hearing from people, seeing people about. About work, about emails, about responding to emails. And. And when I would get like a little hit of anxiety, it was like, you know what? It'll be okay. We'll check on Tuesday. And even when I got to the airport, it wasn't like this frantic, like, need to check email or to call people or respond to voicemails or texts or all that stuff.

I just really tried to be even mindful about that. And I tried to be mindful about how I came back. I did not intend to do the full degree of unplugging that I did. It started with leaving my computer, which was a big deal. I never leave my computer. So I left my computer. And then when I was sitting on the plane in the airport, that's when I came up with the rest of the idea. And, you know, it was great. Friday night, I gotta be completely honest. Friday night, I gave myself permission to finish a show I had been watching, and then it was like.

And that's it. No more tv, no more movies, no nothing. Only reading my book and being present with other people who were at the resort and at the wedding. So I think, you know, the challenge to all of us is, like, how do we unplug in little ways? And then how do we unplug in the big ways? How can we unplug on a regular basis? Just leave your phone for a little bit, right? How does that work? Or always take breaks when you're in the middle of email or other stuff like that? Always have, you know.

So, like, those are the little unplugs. But I highly, highly recommend, if you haven't done it, giving it a shot and doing some kind of major unplugging, to just kind of get a little bit of a reset.