Tomorrow I start a media deprivation week. No reading (except emails that require a response and texts) or podcasts or TV for a week. I’m working through The Artist’s Way and the power and possibility of a week of media deprivation is heavily touted. I’m terrified, which means I definitely need to do it.
When I told my husband he laughed and responded: So…you’ll be deep in the Solitaire then.
The thing is I’m already deep in the Solitaire. I still play over a dozen games a day. It’s the mindless way I pass the time when there are no posts to read. It is still the filler that has taken the place of FB, which I left over three months ago.
There are only so many games of Solitaire a person can play. Even if that person is me.
What will I do with myself if I can’t ingest other people’s words?! I have absolutely no idea, and honestly I’m not all that excited to find out. But I want to see this through, because I know I am addicted to the distraction and I need to break the habit, at least for a little while.
I have some projects to tackle around the house. I might ask my parents if they have some 1000 piece puzzle lying around. I’ll ask friends out for lunch. I’ll listen to music.
God, it’s been a LONG time since I listened to music.
And I’ll write. I’m sure I’ll write. Quite possibly a lot. But I won’t be publishing my posts because I can’t read the comments to respond and I don’t like not responding to comments. So I’ll write and put the posts up later.
The hardest part will not be reading posts in my reader. That is why I’m even putting this out there, so you all know why I’m not commenting. I promise I’ll catch up after next week. I’m sorry I won’t be around until then.
Deep in the Solitaire. That’s where I’ll be.
This sounds terrible. Ha!!!
Solitaire…. I was so addicted to that when Brian and I met. He challenged me to quit. It was hard. I did it. When I play solitaire now, I can quit after a couple of games. I used to play for at least an hour a day.
It does sound terrible 🙂 Have you listened to Note to Self’s Bored and Brilliant series? It’s a different sort of media detox, though the idea is to get bored and therefore daydream and think up great new ideas. Sort of like how all good ideas come while in the shower or driving the car; activities when you’re not consuming but instead pre-creating.
Dear Heavens. Well. Deep breath. Well, at least you have advised us that we are going into deep solitaire and silence. A week. OK. Maybe ok. A week of deprivation. I am working on my maturity. I am already failing on my maturity. A week.
But you will write and post later. Ok. Very deep breathing, maturity is good for me. I HATE it. But much praise and support to you. I hope you are refreshed from the silence and feel like you are super productive (but also miss us terribly so you absolutely return and do not remain off line!) A week.
I am going to picture you engulfed with peace especially while the others in your home are all out of it, strengthened with harmony, and successful in all your plans.
Very best wishes!!!
Wow. I’ll be interested to hear how it goes and what you learn. And I’ll look forward to read what you write. For the record, I miss you on FB.
I miss you on FB, too! And I don’t see how Solitaire is better than FB and blogs, which at least offer some hope of meaningful connection (or at least entertainment). I definitely have days where I’m getting too distracted by social media and it gets in the way of my life. But I probably have even more days when it absolutely saves me from total isolation, helps me reconnect with a friend, or gives me news about the world.
Do books count as media? A week of undisturbed and undistracted book reading is my idea of chill-out bliss. (Well, in between massages and facials!)
Today is Friday. It has been a tough week and month in the news.
Hope you are feeling good about your accomplishments and are refreshed.
I figure about 4 more days to go before I can hope to see a post from you. I have failed maturity again.
Not that I am holding my breath and turning blue or anything like that.
I am now going to picture you in the ‘Yurt’ quietly meditating because the house is all clean and the children are off at camps etc, nothing has broken, nothing has gone wrong, everyone has stayed healthy. The silence and calm is being appreciated and you will not go away like this again for a LONNNNNG Time. Please. Thank you.