Embracing Downtime

Geri Hirsch + Embracing Downtime
Over Thanksgiving my mother-in-law was watching my husband and I sit together on the couch and pointed something out that stuck, “You two are never at rest. Even when you’re relaxing, your phones are beeping and buzzing or your scrolling. Isn’t it exhausting?”

She was right. In fact, we’re the most stimulated and busiest generation to ever walk this earth. We’re watching Netflix while scrolling through IG, checking text messages while having dinner with friends, sending emails while pouring coffee, and snapping during hikes in nature. We are never truly at rest, and ultimately this can be incredibly taxing on our systems.

I’m realllly good about taking alone time but embracing rest without the distraction of my phone is something I’ve realized I’m not great at. So I’m working on it! Just being aware of it has made a difference. It’s like a bright spotlight highlighting how distracted I am and when I catch myself, I try to change the behavior. This means leaving the phone behind while on vacation, not reaching for it while watching Homeland, resisting the urge to share the recipe I’m cooking on Snapchat, not scrolling through Instagram when I can’t sleep, not checking my phone while at the movie theater, leaving my phone in my bag during meals with friends/family so the alerts are out of sight and not distracting, etc.

This is obviously REALLY hard to do as I’m tethered to my phone but I can genuinely say that I get so much more out of my downtime when it’s not part of the plan. What about you? Do you limit your phone use during downtime?

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12 comments

  1. My bf and I doesn’t check out phones during meal time. It’s like our “us time” and no one else. I tried to schedule massages once a week or take a long bath without any devices around me for at least an hour. That’s my “me time”

  2. I feel like an Alien sometimes because I really do not have that much of a problem staying away from my phone or computer… On the contrary, I’m not really good at replying to text/emails and all that stuff, but I can and do leave my phone behind every once in a while and it feels really good, it completely recharges me, if you know what I mean 🙂
    Lucie, xx

    http://thefrenchpier.blogspot.com

  3. The social media world definitely makes this a challenge. It’s almost impossible to really turn off. It’s good to be conscious of this, and make an effort to actually relax! Love that image. A bath and a glass of red sound just PERFECT!
    Lyndi

    http://www.stylecalling.com

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