Unplug, Sis! The Power of Disconnecting 💪🏽🔌 Intentional

How many of y’all have issues with disconnecting from technology? 🤔 When I say “issues,” I mean can’t function without, feel like you’re missing out without, feel empty without, completely bored without technology. We’re more attached to our technological devices than we think, & we don’t realize it until they’re absent. 📱💻🎮📺 Ladies & gentleman, you’ll never understand how much the power of disconnecting can change your life!

Curiosity About the Power of Disconnecting 🤔❓

I’m an addict! Ain’t no shame in my game; I confess it. 🙋🏽‍♀️ Between this iPhone & the TV, I used to suffer from not being able to disconnect from technology. 📱📺 It used to be hella ugly about a year ago. At least one of those devices was on during every one of my waking hours. It was pi-ti-ful!!!

Starting Challenges

When I started the first 31 Day Self-Care Challenge, I knew I’d include the traditional self-care tasks: the skincare, the yoga, the meditation, the mani/pedis, etc. 💆🏽‍♀️🧘🏽‍♀️💅🏾 When I started searching for additional tasks to meet the 31-task requirement, my eyes were opened more to what else self-care includes. That’s when I stumbled across the tight hold technology has on many of our lives.

One of the first tasks of the inaugural 31 Day Self-Care Challenge was to disconnect from social media or games for 24 hours. 🚫 I conveniently chose a Sunday so it would challenge me some. During the work week, I’m pretty much occupied with everything except social media, so it would have been fairly easy to stay off of it for a day. The weekends aren’t as jam-packed, & I find myself mindlessly scrolling or playing…out of habit. 😳 It was apparent I needed a little jumpstart.

Watching church online every Sunday has been routine pre-pandemic, so I knew a few hours were going to be focused on that. 🛐 Afterward though…I had to find some things to do. I remember going to a park near the house to walk.🚶🏾‍♀️I think I walked an hour & listened to a few podcast episodes. I spent some time with the family, but I did catch myself picking up the phone to scroll. As soon as I’d open the app, I’d remember the task of the day & shut that thing right on out quickly. I accomplished the goal, but it also shed some light on things. 💡

Embracing the Power of Disconnecting 🤗 🥰

The Temptations 🍎🍏

Once I had a chance to reflect on my progress with leaving social media shut down for a day, I realized just how much time I waste scrolling without a purpose. I don’t think there were very many times I would open Instagram, Facebook, or X with a solid reason other than boredom. Luckily I didn’t care about LinkedIn & had no clue how to use (or what the purpose of, for that matter) TikTok & Snapchat, I only had to focus on the main 2 culprits: FB & IG. 🦹🏽‍♀️🦹‍♂️

I also realized how much I’d occupy my mind by playing games on my phone. 📱 ♣️ Granted, all of the games were puzzle-types, so they stimulate my brain. 🧩🤨 However, I had to realize that they were killing time I could be doing something more productive. I’d get the weekly usage report & cringe at the average time I used my phone. That’s when I decided it was time to put some boundaries around my usage.

The Phone Saviors 🛟🪽

Enter the Screen Time feature on my iPhone, aka Ms. Accountability. She keeps me in check, honey! I put caps on the amount of time I could use each social media app & game. I think I set it at 6-8 hours per day back then. ⏲️ When I’d reach my cap, the app would shut down & not allow me back in. ⌛️ I’d have to practice restraint to not override the alert so I could continue using them. It really put the way I spend my time into perspective.

Per usual, at the beginning of 2024, I set my New Year’s resolutions. Because many of them require a lot of focus & time, I knew I’d need to reel back even more with wasting time. 🎣 I set even more boundaries: 6 hours per day max on social media & games, regardless of whether it’s for networking, keeping in contact with others, or being nosy; and no social media, games, emails, texts, calls, or other apps that aren’t needed between 9:30p-6a, no exceptions! 0️⃣👌🏽

The time limit only posed a challenge on Saturdays since I pre-plan my posts for each week, but the shutdown hours worked well so I could get more rest. I work better under pressure, so decreasing the time & operating hours to use social media made me focus more & work smarter. 👀 I learned to plan on paper first, followed by designing in Canva, then writing captions in Notes, & ending with posting. That helped me stay on task & meet my caps easily. 📋

The shutdown hours have worked for my benefit in a major way! I pushed myself to develop a more extensive nighttime routine outside of just journaling & planning the following day. 🛌🥱 I set alerts & automatic phone blocks so I could focus solely on winding down for the day. No business, no drama, no working, all relaxing. 🧘🏽‍♀️

The Lifestyle Saviors 🌅🙆🏽‍♀️

I pushed myself to get up earlier so I could focus more on being productive during hours that are quiet, & it’s changed my world. I have more energy, more focus, & more productivity. 💪🏽 My attitude has been calmer, & I certainly don’t care about the majority of the things that would get under my skin before. 🤷🏽‍♀️ Less hours of sleep, but way more positivity brought into my life.

I cut the cable off, so there is no longer a DVR to record the 3500 shows I used to watch. 📺 Because I’d be so busy during the week & exhausted at night, I’d hoard hours of shows I needed to watch. Streaming tv now only really gets turned on during the weekends. I’m so behind in so many shows I don’t even care anymore. 🤷🏽‍♀️ It is what it is, & apparently I’m not missing much. The few things I am watching now are mostly a lot of yelling, arguing, & drama that I don’t really feel like watching anymore unless I’m just that bored. Technology is now losing with me!

Understanding the Power of Disconnecting 👍🏽

Maximizing Disconnecting ♾️

You don’t really see how much technology gets in the way of just living. Last week, I only got the internet package on the cruise in case my kids needed me or my alarm system went off. 🚢 Everything else was irrelevant. I intended to VACATION COMPLETELY, & sure did! I only opened social media when I needed to upload the posts for this week & to activate the daily posts on TikTok & X since I can’t pre-arrange them. No scrolling, no posting; all my focus was on relaxing, relating, & releasing.🧘🏽‍♀️🍹🏖️

My phone stayed with me to communicate with the Cruise Camp members, to stay aware of events on the ship I wanted to attend, & to read my book on the Kindle app. My mind was free, my stress was low (most of the time), & I got a chance to enjoy the sea, the spa, the food, the drinks drinks & more drinks, & the beauty of Turks & Caicos. I probably took less than 5 pictures the entire trip…AND IT👏🏽FELT👏🏽GOOD👏🏽!

31 Day Self-Care Challenges 💪🏽🧘🏽‍♀️

Since the first 31 Day Self-Care Challenge, I’ve come to understand how technology, especially smartphones, invades our lives abundantly. Pouring more into my self-care & Intentional has allowed me to disconnect more often. 👩🏽‍💻🧘🏽‍♀️ It also has allowed me to appreciate the gift of silence without technology constantly being on. 🤫 It’s gotten to the point where I feel overstimulated when too much is going on. 😵‍💫

Embracing life with less electronics every now & then is a breath of fresh air, & I’m going to continue to disconnect more & more as time goes by. I had so much fun on my vacation, but I think the most needed time was spent on my balcony, the top deck, or the beach vibing out to the ocean’s sounds & movements. 🌊 That Pisces is deep in my blood…despite the fact I can’t swim. ♓️

Get ready to test & stretch yourself even more starting April 1st. The 5th round of the 31 Day Self-Care Challenge is revving up, so get ready to take more time for yourself. ⏳There are lots of springtime activities scheduled to get your mind, body, & soul into zen mode. 🌸🌼

If you haven’t gotten a copy of the calendar of activities, shoot me an email at info@intentionallyevolve.com & I’ll get it right to you. 📧 You can also follow us on IG, FB, X, LinkedIn, or TikTok for the daily challenge tasks, or join the Challenge Facebook group to be a little more interactive. If all else fails, here’s a picture of it. Can’t wait to jumpstart Q2 cool, calm, & collected! 😎