We have had internet problems for about four days, which has been both a relief and an annoyance. I completed this piece during our silent internet days, and it perfectly explains how I felt. Now, let’s be honest here, if I had wanted to find somewhere to be able to get online badly enough I could have found a Starbuck’s as there are at least three near our home. Yet for multiple reasons I did not. I was bothered, disappointed, and even frustrated with four days completely cut off from the online world…AND YET…it was peaceful and productive in different ways.
Artists don't get down to work until the pain of working is
exceeded by the pain of not working.
- Stephen Destaebler
For me no internet meant there were no emails, no dings for online updates, no television to watch as we are all online, and no busy work to do as we couldn’t get to anything. I was reminded how easy our world is without an online presence, and how much we rely on being online to live even a simple daily life. After the first day, the pain of not working began to creep into my mind. I had ideas and worked, and wrote without being able to post. That time helped me ponder, think a bit more deeply AND helped me appreciate what being online gives and takes in our world.
Today, our internet provider arrived and I was glad. The pain of not working had kicked in, I was beginning to panic and thinking about becoming a coffee drinker to utilize the internet at Starbuck’s…and anyone who knows me, knows that me drinking coffee is a very bad idea! Hooray, the technician was fabulous and I am back. In reality I only missed one scheduled post…only one. So the pain was in my own heart, and today I am glad to have that pain relieved.
These quiet days made me think about how I have organized my world, what I rely upon and what I take for granted. I could ‘see’ better what I have avoided with the excuse that I had work to do, and how I had procrastinated many chores as anything online was more important…or so I told myself. It also reminded me of simpler times when I was not always accessible, and when quiet time was not technologically imposed, instead it was personally chosen. Each day we are given twenty-four hours to do with what we will, and our gift is using those precious hours wisely. And that can be easier to do on some days rather than others.
I write this to share with you my realization about my own online life, and how a step back – even if technologically imposed – is a great idea! Let me encourage you to put down the phone, turn off the tv, stop answering EVERY email as if it is life threatening, and stop hiding behind an online world which allows you to neglect in person, real world. In the end, the people we love and live our lives around are what matters most. I have yet to hear about a dying person asking to get online to answer email or check their bank balance. So put down your online devices and just sit, be quiet, and give thanks for the life you have. And most of all, dream about the life you want to continue to build.
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