Hello friends, and welcome to this month’s Joyinmovement newsletter,
In continuing along with our 2021 theme of personal development, I’ve got a touchy topic to share with you, so let’s get started!
I’ll do my best to convince you to engage in a digital detox. Now before you stop reading and go check your phone for any alerts, please read on and hear me out 🙂
The 7-Day Digital Detox Challenge
Imagine this…
You turn off your phone…
You put it away in another room…
Not to be seen again for the next 7 days…
How does that make you feel?
Terrified? Delighted? Inspired? Relieved? Meh?
This may terrify you. I get that. And if it does, it means you MUST do it!
As the saying goes, feel the fear and do it anyway! Or how about the acronym for fear: False Evidence Appearing Real? Whatever seems impossible and scary about this challenge, you’ll never know if those fears are real or imagined unless you give it a go.
Your 2021 Challenge is to take 7-Days off from your phone.
Why do I want you to step up to the challenge?
It will help you:
- Identify the stranglehold your phone has on your life
- Develop coping strategies for dealing with the withdrawal, which will serve you well no matter when you need coping skills
- Create tactics for reducing your phone usage and dependence, and let’s face it, we all need a reduction
- Re-open old ways of creative thinking and focus
- Build new habits for when you return to the digital world
Your task right now:
1. Pull out the calendar
2. Pick seven days when you can go ALL IN on this
3. Commit to a full blackout. That means no phone, text, email, social, news websites, nothing.
Start with this “win” and you will grow better phone habits from there.
The easiest opportunity is your next vacation.
Social media can wait to see your pictures.
No need to live stream your next margarita at the swim-up bar. Or even your pineapple, coconut smoothie!
You can do it.
It will be worth it. Look at it like fasting.
If you’ve ever committed to fasting, or changing any behavior for a month, you know there is less temptation and more control once you make a commitment.
I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking and saying to yourself, “I’m going to try not to look at my phone as much”.
My reply is that you’d fail because there’s still wiggle room in the declaration.
If there’s anything I’ve learned from my 20 plus years of helping people make changes in their health and wellness, it’s that commitment, even for short periods of a week or so, makes a huge difference.
When you commit to something, you’ll do it.
And in case you’re wondering if I’ve done the challenge, you ought to know by now I walk my talk and never ask you to do anything I haven’t done myself :))
I look forward to hearing about your 7 day detox!
Until next month, MAY you find the courage to take the challenge and benefit from whatever it is you learn about yourself and your relationship to technology!
shelli
p.s. BOOK OF THE MONTH RECOMMENDATION:
Pandemic Anxiety: Fear, Stress, and Loss in Traumatic Times (2021)
By Margaret Wehrenberg
As of now, some nations seem to be over the worst of the coronavirus pandemic, while others are experiencing a terrifying rise in cases. One thing that has become clear is that the coronavirus can damage the brain just as it does other parts of the body. But even if you don’t actually get the virus, a pandemic like this can affect your mental state, causing anxiety and stress. In Pandemic Anxiety, author Margaret Wehrenberg offers neurobiological explanations of how this pandemic can affect us, as well as practical ideas for navigating this new reality. Learn more……..
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