Between emails, texting, conference calls, Netflix, movie marathons and social networks, it is no wonder people feel disconnected from the world around them.
Finding myself guilty of this, I have come up with eight ways to log off and live life. Everyone agrees that they spend too much time on Facebook or that they should meet up for coffee with a friend instead of exchange meaningless messages via texting, but no one does anything about it. Take this as a challenge to actually connect with the people, places and things in your world.
1. Host a "No Phones Party"
Everyone loves a good party so they can stand in a room with 100 of their closest friends and text the ones that aren't there, right? Wrong.
Let's throwback to the days when we didn't have unlimited texting and our 100 texts a month were used to let our parents know where we were. It's an idea that might sound crazy to your friends, but it will turn out to be the best party of the year - because they will actually feel like they were at the party this time.
2. Write a Letter Everyday for a Week
Not an email or a text message but an honest-to-goodness, handwritten letter to anyone - yourself, your lover, your mom, your best friend, you name it.
Writing is a great way to self-reflect and truly express yourself without abbreviating every other word and creating a language that only people under 35 can understand. It will help you connect with whomever you are writing to - even if it's to yourself.
3. Have a Picnic in the Park
This somewhat forgotten fad is the best way to take in everything around you. Find your favorite spot, your favorite person and your favorite PB&J and enjoy your favorite spread rather than that spreadsheet.
4. Go on a Hike
Enjoy the beauty around you. Stop looking up beautiful scenery on Google Images and take some pictures for yourself!
5. Buy a Newspaper on a Random Afternoon
Read it from cover to cover and get your news from a paper source - not Twitter or Facebook. Share this newfound knowledge with your friends and make an effort to stay more informed about what is happening globally, nationally and in your community rather than what the most popular hashtag is during the VMAs.
6. Fall Asleep Reading A Book
Turn off your phone, laptop and/or television and let words come to life to spark your imagination before you fall asleep courtesy of Fitzgerald, Hemingway or Frost. It might become your new favorite bedtime routine.
7. Make Dinner at Home
Get your closest friends together and make a "family dinner." Use an old recipe from your grandmother's recipe box or the like. Put all your phones away, talk about your day and catch up on life - you've missed more than you think because of the distractions that keep us from connecting with our friends.
8. Go On an Adventure (and Post About It LATER)
Forget about the Instagram credit you will get for posting that awesome view of the sunset on that forgotten beach and enjoy it for yourself. Walk around the city at 3:00am or go kayaking at sunrise. Make everyday an adventure and take the time to enjoy it. Pictures are great, but if you spend the entire time documenting what happened, then nothing will.
Disconnect to Reconnect. Ready. Set. Carpe Diem!
xoxo,
M
