Three things I learned from my Internet-free Thanksgiving

It’s hard to believe it’s already been a whole week since Thanksgiving, isn’t it? As you know, friends, I made a vow to have a clean holiday. I was going Internet-free after feeling overwhelmed and bogged down by the Web for far too long. I was going to complete this Digital Detox even if it killed me. Well, lucky for me, it didn’t do me in. In fact, it helped me — in more ways than I ever imagined. Here are the top three things I learned from unplugging…

The universe is not going to implode on itself
Things move so fast online, so I thought that even one day away would spell a death sentence for me. For so long, I’d tricked myself into believing that I couldn’t take even one day off without my universe never, ever making sense again. But guess what? The Internet will still be there when you come back. Trust me, it’s not going anywhere. I thought I’d be missing important news, must-read emails or urgent blog business, but when I finally did check my email, most of it was either junk mail or things that didn’t require my immediate attention over the holiday weekend. Turns out, other people probably weren’t being slaves to their computers and phones either.

Time with family is what matters the most
Sure, I had a pretty good handle on this before, but we all need a reminder every once and awhile, don’t we? We spent a lot of Thanksgiving Day just lying around and reading, but there was just something about doing it together that made it extra special. It’s those little moments, after all.

Taking time to slow down now will help you be more productive in the long-run
This week, I’ve felt more focused and on top of things, and I’m pretty sure my day off had something to do with it. As my father used to say, my brain got a nice little reboot and was able to start fresh. Sometimes just giving yourself a teeny, tiny bit of distance from something gives you a huge dose of perspective when you get back to it. You have a chance to de-stress. You have a chance to relax. And then you come back stronger, bigger and better than ever.

So! What do you think, friends? I’m pretty darn proud of myself for lasting the whole day. Have you ever tried this not-so-little experiment? How’d things go? What did you learn? Any handy tips you can share for others who might be trying the same thing? xoxo

[Bottom photo via We Heart It]

Let’s Try: Internet-free Thanksgiving

“I will not be spending my holiday weekend in cyberspace.”

That was the matter-of-fact declaration my mom made this morning. She’s a woman on a mission, and truth be told, I can see her point. In the early days, the Internet truly did make our lives easier, but somewhere along the way, things began to change. It became a hindrance rather than a help, a time-sucker rather than a time-saver.

In fact, it’s not uncommon to see my mom and I sitting at the kitchen table together after dinner, she on her phone and me on my laptop. And because my job is essentially on the Web, I sometimes find myself getting easily overwhelmed by the good old Internets (do other bloggers feel this way?), and lately, I even felt a bit bogged down by the weight of the World Wide Web. All signs point to the same thing: I’m in desperate need of a Digital Detox. I mean, my phone is never more than an arm’s reach away from me, even when I’m in bed at night. And when I’m not on my phone, I sometimes find myself wondering: What’s happening on Facebook right now? Any big celebrity drama going down on Twitter?

Thankfully, though, I’m not alone. Last spring, The Huffington Post revealed the results of a UK study that found people would rather have no heat or water than lose their Internet connection in their home. The study, conducted by Infosecurity Europe, asked 1,000 in London about their biggest stressors, and — you guessed it! — loss of Internet connection topped the list.

So, here’s my plan: I’m going to unplug. I’m going to start small, and vow to just unplug for Turkey Day, and see if I can last the whole day. We’re talking the works here. No Blogs. No Facebook. No Twitter. No Pinterest. No ogling Zac Efron. I’m going cold turkey — no pun intended.

Do you think I can do it, friends? I’d love to make this a group challenge, so if you’re game, let’s try it together! How long could you go without the Internet — or any technology, for that matter? Good luck, and I’ll see you in my post-Thanksgiving coma on Friday! xoxo

P.S. Here are some tips to help us (and yes, I’m aware of the irony)…
*How to unplug in six steps.
*Unplug your weekend or ruin your life.
*How to broadcast your plan to unplug.

[Pie chart via I Love Charts]

Let’s Try: Prancercise!

One of my goals this summer is to get into an exercise routine. At the top of my must-have moves? Prancercise! Ever since creator Joann Rohrback’s 1989 video went viral last week, I — and the rest of the Internet — have become obsessed with this new way of moving and grooving.

I’m thinking I’d have to modify the routine a bit since I’ll be using my walker (those ankle weights are probably out…), but I can’t wait to get prancing! As Joann says, it’s time to “stop talking and do some walking.”

I’d love to know, friends: What’s your go-to fitness routine? Any tips for me as I begin my journey? Will you be taking part in the
Prancercise craze this summer?

P.S. I’ve got another summer project that I can’t wait to tell you about. Look for it on the blog in the next few weeks… :)

[Via TIME]

Tracking my mood: The results

Last Monday, I decided to do a fun little experiment and track my mood for an entire week. For as long as I can remember, I’ve kept a journal as a way of making sense of my emotions and trying to understand them. I’d write pages and pages of prose, full of grand detail — and yes, a bit of dramatic detail during those teen years. But the idea of stripping it all away — all the excess words and descriptions and dramatic teenage-angst monologues — in favor of something more succinct was intriguing, so when I discovered MoodHacker, that little metaphorical light bulb went off over my head. Ah! I was in. That’s my rating, above, on the first day…

…and here are some of my activities I checked off during the week. I really liked how you could check off what you did each day, and those activities would be factor into your overall mood chart…

…my mood chart looked like this by the end of the week. It’s pretty much what I expected, and the rational scientist in me loves seeing a sort of mathematical representation of something as abstract as my emotions and feelings. It makes everything feel a bit more manageable.

So, friends, did you track your mood for the past week? What were your results like? Were they what you expected? Why or why not? Will you keep tracking your mood in the future? I just might keep mine going… xoxo

Let’s Try: Tracking our mood for one week

During my battle with depression a couple years ago, my therapist extolled the benefits of keeping a mood journal. Every day, you should write down how you’re feeling and rate your mood on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being “I feel so depressed that I can’t even get out of bed” to 10 being “I feel great; what’s depression again?” In a time when it was hard to even understand my emotions from one day to the next, putting a number to my feelings really helped to put things in focus.

If only I’d known about MoodHacker back then. The free site lets you track your mood and offers mood-boosting tips and techniques. You can also see daily, weekly and monthly summaries to get the big picture. I thought it would be fun to track my mood over the course of a week. Want to join me? Here’s what I’m thinking: Simply sign up to get started tracking your mood. Then come back every day to rate your mood. I’ll be sharing my results next Monday, but for now, here’s how my day #1 is shaping up…

What do you think, friends? Are you game? This should be quite interesting… xoxo