Unplugged anniversary

 

It has been now just over a year since our trip to kailash – mansarovar

I have been reading recently of persons who unplug briefly from the internet [and other communication channels].

I guess it is a question of an overdose of anything – in this case, social media, that one gets tired from time to time and would like some time and space for oneself.

last year, by this time, we were back from a two week unplugged experience for most of the time.

out there in the mountains, it is just space and one has pretty much all the time – except for the schedule to be adhered to for the travel.

and not really much else to do except look around us and enjoy the vastness and rarity of the air!

while, initially, there were some anxieties about how things were ‘back home’ and not having even mobile connectivity being a concern in cases of emergencies or just getting updates, as we got close to the main section, time just went by and only fleeting thoughts occasionally of the happenings in the rest of the world.

I did not miss the daily dose of depression – I mean, the news channels on TV and to a lesser extent, some of the newspapers.

the entire trip was very relaxing.

with an out of message warning that mails backlogged may not be responded to at all – and directing the senders to contact other persons officiating during that period, it was a great pleasure to just move all the backlogged mails to an archive folder, only to be looked at, when someone follows and and a reference to an earlier mail was needed.

earlier, vacations would end with a sense of dread of the inbox, when returning to work.

people practicing vipassana do this regularly.

of late, with my personal calendar becoming more packed with many things to be done and also the transition to a ‘retired’ life from work filling up the work calendar, my online presence and activities had come down.

though I did not have any withdrawal symptoms during this period [which was not the case a few years ago, even when I went on a vacation without connectivity!], I am happy to be able to spend more time online, catching up..

but for those of you looking for a digital-detox exercise, this reference might be of interest.