Disconnecting to reconnect

The irony of posting blog articles while I am in an internet ‘black out’ is not lost on me. But that’s not going to stop me.I’m finding the time away from the internet productive, rewarding and interesting. It’s not until you step away that you discover just what a time thief the internet can be if you let it … especially if you are like me, where you slot internet time between other things (like internet while the dinner is cooking).

For me the scariest thing about this black out is that I’m not missing it and certainly not feeling left out of the loop. Rather than having a detrimental effect ie. Not being plugged in, it’s having a rejuvenating effect and I’m connected in other areas of life that have been neglected.

There are blogs that I’m missing reading, but I’ve come to realise that the majority of my online time is spent just aimlessly doing crap. The sort of time that is neither informative or creative and certainly not productive.

I did spend a little time on the internet Saturday morning to enable me to read everyone’s [Fiction] Friday entries and I came away feeling drained, with a sense of violation. Had I violated my own boundaries and that was why I was feeling so odd or was it something else? Part of me felt as though an energy sap, in the shape of a power cord snaking out of the screen had come an implanted itself in my stomach, draining me – weird but true. As an aside, coincidence – perhaps .. Saturday has been the only day since the black out began where I haven’t committed to and completed three pages of writing in a day.

With the resurgence in my creativity (I think I’ve been gifted with a new set of characters or scenarios every morning) I’m wondering if I can stretch the black out beyond Thursday to the end of the month … or at least limit the time to absolutely essentials, considering that there are two collaborative creative writing I’m part of that requires me to log in and check out what is happening.

So what have I been doing rather than hanging out online? Here’s a short list of what I’ve been up to:

* Writing
* Baking muffins with Dylan (banana and lemon, then maple and apple)
* Reading – my own books and the omnipotent PB Bear
* Being beaten at Uno (yes that’s by my 4 year old son who can’t hide his cards and I still can’t beat him with insider knowledge!)
* Going for an afternoon walk with Dylan
* Weeding, mowing the lawn and transplanting flowers from pots into the
garden.
* Cleaning (sorely neglected bathroom and toilet – and the rest of the house is on the list for the rest of September)
* Washing
* Worrying less
* Trusting more
* Rode on a 13 storey high Ferris wheel at South Bank (I’m terrified of heights so this was a big achievement)
* Got out of the house for weekend brunch before 2pm
* Playing with the characters in my head

The clarity of mind I currently have is something that I’m not going to forget in a hurry. This time away will make me far savvier about how I utilise the internet and whether I use it, or allow it to use me.