Living Without Internet

Honestly I was very worried about having to live without the internet for more than a couple of days.  It wasn’t that I thought I’d get bored (after all, I grew up without internet or television so I’m quite happy to turn to books), but the fact that effectively my entire life is conducted through the internet.  I shop online. I follow the news online (albeit rarely).  I use the internet to motivate and inspire myself.  And, most importantly, I socialize online.  So yes, living without internet for almost two weeks was not something I was looking forward to.

For the first few days I was mostly resting and getting used to the new flat so I didn't really have time to notice not having the internet.  After that I started really noticing its absence – mainly because my days suddenly seemed extremely long.  It’s so easy to forget just how much time gets sucked away as we sit in front of a screen and ‘just do this one thing’.  Suddenly I found that not only did I have time to rest more than I needed (and now I have the internet this is the bit I’m struggling with the most), but I also had all the time I needed to read books, unpack (still got a long way to go though), and start playing the Sims 3 again.

What struck me most though, was that after a week or so, I was suddenly hit with an influx of ideas.  Ideas has always been something that I struggle with; often I have almost-ideas that I can’t quite get a grip on.  Apparently living without internet gave my mind the space to fill itself with new and exciting projects that I definitely will be getting started on soon (you know, once I've worked out how to fit productive me alongside the internet and unpacking).  Needless to say this has left me motivated and positive, which are two things I can always use more of.

The other, rather surprising, thing I found out was that writing my 750 words has finally become a habit.  Admittedly for the first few days I didn't write anything.  Usually I do my words on the website each day (not necessarily in the morning), and I was more than a little upset I had to break my 128 day streak (you can only ‘go on holiday’ for up to 10 days for some reason).  And so I figured it would be like all the other times I've stopped doing 750 words regularly, ie. a real pain to get back into.  It turns out that it has finally become such a deeply ingrained habit that this is not a problem and I soon found myself doing them automatically on my computer every day, even though I wasn't pressuring myself to do them.  I guess now I just have to decide on what to work on to become my next ingrained habit (I’m thinking meditating, but welcome any suggestions).

Living without internet for so long (okay, just shy of 2 weeks) has given me a lot of food for thought, and making me question whether I want this to become a regular thing every few months; but for now I’m just going to relax, get used to my new place and enjoy the wonders of the world (and more) at my fingertips once again.