Friday, October 5, 2012

A Balancing Act

Recently I was out of town for a few days with limited (ok, almost zero) internet access. It was scary, but then a funny thing happened...the world kept spinning even without my fascinating blog posts or tweets. No crises arrived in my email inbox (because they never really do) and no one ranted about not hearing from me (that hurt a tiny bit, but I'm ok).

And...I relaxed. Being connected all the time makes me anxious, like I'm missing something and I have to constantly be available for the latest email, tweets and blogposts. Disconnecting helped me gain some perspective.

I've had a couple of different work from home jobs and overall, I love that option. But, one problem with it is that work is always there. You can shut the office door (or, in my case, clear off the kitchen table), but you know it's there and calling you.

As a writer, your work is never really done because once one book is done, there's always at least one more to write. It's sort of like getting all the laundry done and sitting back and thinking you'll never have to do another load...ha!

So, how about you? Do you feel like you might be too connected? How do you find a balance? Any tips or pointers for the rest of us?

P.S. I realize that a blog post about taking time away from the internet seems counterintuitive. It might be, but this is what's on my mind this morning.

6 comments:

  1. Hi,

    I really enjoy being connected on the internet. Last Saturday, I had no internet access and I really missed not being able to communicate with friends.

    Hug,
    joey

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  2. One thing I am going to do, just as soon as I work up the nerve, is turn in my smart phone for a $15 pay-as-you-go text-and-talk phone. 10 years ago I didn't even have a cell phone, and these days I started to think a smart phone was a necessity rather than a luxury. It is scary, though. We get used to our connections and feel lost without them...but then being on call all the time makes us anxious.

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  3. Connection is a double-edged sword. I'm not one of those people who has a cell phone stuck to her ear everywhere she goes. Until recently when we started building a house, I didn't even turn my cell on except for once every couple of weeks. Even now, I can count on my fingers the number of people who have my cell number.

    So much of my need for connectivity is tied to the fact that I work from home so work bleeds into my entire day. There are no set work hours. There's no such thing as days off.

    When we vacation my husband and I are gone for 3-4 weeks at a time. We cruise. When you're in the middle of the Atlantic ocean and internet access is 75 cents a minute and it takes 30 seconds for a page to load, you tend not to use the internet. The only thing I dread is coming home to hundreds of emails.

    Short answer: when I'm away from it I don't miss it. But when I'm home, I want it.

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  4. I think I'd go crazy without my iPhone. It's rare that I don't have an internet signal and email, Twitter, FB, etc. is always at my fingertips and always a temptation. The worst thing for me is if I can't check my email for some reason. LOL I might have a problem:)

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  5. Funny, we've been out of town a lot lately, and the only time I get to log in is at night when we're back in the hotel. It almost feels good to NOT have to be connected, check in, etc. I do get emails on the iPhone, but I'm not Googling or checking Facebook, so all in all it's better.

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  6. I like being busy working since I have a hard time not being on the computer connecting constantly. I appreciate the time much better when it is more balanced. Good post!

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