took my first tech sabbath of 2021. 24 hours from January 2 6pm to January 3 sometime after 6pm.
the tech i focused on not using was digital tech - no computer, no phone, no apple watch. no talking to google home. no kindle. with two exceptions: 1 - I keep a dream journal on an old iphone and this setup works really well for me and I don't like missing interesting dreams (and I often lose them if I don't capture them during the night). and 2 - I'm in the middle of a 40 day yoga commitment using glo.com and didn't want to miss my typically morning session, so I allowed the computer for that. I'll probably keep this setup for future tech sabbaths, usually only making the exception for the old iphone dream journal.
this is the 2nd time in the recent past I've done a tech sabbath. this time was much easier. very relaxing. I could feel clock time slip away. and I started resting in my own sense of time - time to read a book, time to take a bath, time to bake banana bread, time for a walk, time for coffee. these activities felt simple, and nourishing. and purposeful. (or perhaps I mean intentional?)
I prepared ahead of time and printed out some philosophy texts that I've been wanting to read - Heidegger and Deleuze. but didn't end up reading them. instead I found myself consumed with the book "the unbearable lightness of being" by Milan Kundera, I'm about halfway finished with the book - and looking forward to finishing it.
a couple of times I found myself compelled to check my phone - for messages from friends, specifically about a project I'm currently collaborating on, and also a friend I had talked with just before I "unplugged". it was oddly satisfying when the 24-hours had elapsed to check and see I hadn't messages from either. it's nice to NOT be needed sometimes 🙃
I think I talked Dave's ear off more than normal during the sabbath, he was a good sport. we seem to be going through some kind of spiritual/developmental growth spurt (individually and perhaps together) and it's common for us to process this - without me using tech, I just had more time to blab.
my main takeaway was how slow and at ease everything felt. like I really was unplugged. no real tug to the digi devices. I'm not surprised, I have a decent relationship with technology, BUT I've been craving taking a break like this.
planning to do weekly tech sabbaths. idk when exactly, probably over weekends though. will keep sharing as I go! I'm curious how my weeks start to respond to the upcoming sabbath, or from the preceding one.
oh! and I'm really glad I kept my iphone dream journal - I had 3 really interesting dreams that revealed some insights into my current spiritual growth - mostly around a need to process my relationship to money and to work - easy stuff! 🙄