Media Fast- 2 Weeks Down!

On July 1, I went on a web surfing and social media fast, choosing to leave non-business related access to the web for one month. It’s been going quite well! I work from home and my income comes entirely from web based resources. I spend my day doing the required work of online teaching and processing orders from my online businesses. I have and take the time to contemplate a couple of more online streams that will likely debut by years end. This year, I have come to find myself spending too much of my valued free time still in front of my Mac, not utilizing the time that has gratefully been afforded me by my choice of this road less traveled.

Alas, I found myself getting sucked into random information overload. When actual online work required a step away from the screen for a breather, I found myself staying in place. I surfed, posted on FB and Twitter, or scanned numerous and repetitive news sites. What I should have been doing was getting a cup of tea, sitting in the backyard, going for a trikke ride, or getting out the house to explore a part of my world I had not before.

All this was becoming very isolating, and counter intuitive to my inherent goals of flexibility and freedom. I was also become a web manic version of Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man, spewing random news stories and tidbits all day long, clearly unable to leave it behind when I should have.

All that’s changing and it is an incredible difference. I don’t know what my Facebook friends are doing, and I’m okay with that. Although I couldn’t escape the tragic news of Michael Jackson’s death on June 25th , which came pre-fast, I hear from friends and family that the news on this keeps churning nearly a month later. I’m glad I’m not paying attention because as he should have been able to, I am trying to rest in peace while I’m still in this earthly space. I also have re-discovered those moments of silence in my day that I had lost touch with. My meditation and journaling have returned and are thankfully less fractured.

Two weeks in, I’m just getting to the point of really feeling the shift. Things are a bit clearer and less cluttered in my mind. I am able to focus with less head noise. I’m less distracted. This makes me think that one month is not enough, or even better that this is the way I should be all the time! What an interesting quandary. What an interesting road less traveled indeed, to consider how to manage work based on the web, while experiencing a 12 step program of withdrawal from it!

Books re-reading and loving during this time:

Vagabonding; An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel by Rolf Potts

Six Months Off- How to plan, negotiate, and take the break you need without burning bridges and going broke by Hope Dlugozima

The 4 Hour Work Week- Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Timothy Ferriss

Simple Prosperity- Finding Wealth in a Sustainable Lifestyle by David Wann