I was on a hiatus from social media for the last few weeks. At first, I took a complete break from all of my social media handles for fifteen days. 

The plan was to stay away from being socialize at least for some days as I was going through a phase of grief. I wanted to absorb the pain and let myself grieving.

Then, after fifteen days, I gradually started to coming back to social media. As you know, in this era of digitalization, we can’t live long without using gadgets and social media platforms. 

Although I started sharing posts on my handles, still I was not using them in a greater extent. I totally stopped using one and partially used rest of the platforms.

I was very less active than usual times and stopped scrolling. I only logged in, posted my updates and then logged out. I tried to be there as least as I could.

After a long gap I am now back to my usual routine of being present in the digital platforms and social media. So, today, I was contemplating on my experience with this phase of unplugged. 

And what I discovered, are some beautiful facts about life. That, it’s possible to live some days without being plugged in to the social media and digital platforms. That, sometimes, unplugging is a nice strategy to keep yourself focused on your priority list. That, unplugging gives you peace of mind and a chance to connect to yourself mindfully.

How plugging in affects your mind:

When you are plugged in for a long time to the digital platforms or social media or you are using electronic gadgets, you might end up with these situations:

Feeling overwhelmed:

It often happens that after scrolling through for a longer period of time, you might feel overwhelmed with the presence of other people on social media. 

We have hundreds of brilliant content creators around us, they are creating great contents everyday, and posting them on their social media handles. 

When you spend more time with these, it’s obvious that at a certain point of time, you might feel that you are not doing enough works as others. 

Then, you start feeling overwhelmed with their stunning presence and start planning to do something creative, something productive as soon as possible. 

This leads you to anxious state of mind. As a result, you become puzzled, confused, and restless.

Feeling Unworthy:

Another thing that comes to mind when you are plugged in to the social media or using different digital platforms, after some time, you might start feeling yourself unworthy. 

That, you are not a good creator. That, everyone seems busy in life, only I am lying here lazy. That, everyone is spending quality time with their family and friends, but I can’t have this now. You might feel that your voice doesn’t matter at all. 

Your creativity doesn’t add any value to other’s lives. Why should you work at all? This kind of thoughts will lead you arise self-doubt and you would end up having lower self-esteem.

Feeling lonely and exhausted:

Sometimes, it might happen that after checking other’s posts on social media and spending time with contents on digital platforms, you might feel alone. 

Because, the fact is whatever be the time we spend with our family, friends, or travelling or doing something engaging, we do feel lonely at times. 

When you keep yourself plugged in the virtual world for a longer time, this thought comes to your mind that after all, at the day’s end, I am all alone. 

This might be the situation for many of us after spending a longer time in the digital world. 

So, it’s a nice idea to take a break from the virtual world for at least a day in a week or if possible, a specific period of time like ten to fifteen minutes or half an hour or even one full hour, by unplugging from all kind of electronic gadgets and engaging yourself in some other activities. 

And this is what Digital Detox called.

Digital Detox:

Digital Detox is a certain period of time that you dedicate to the purpose of unplugging yourself from using electronic devices like smartphones or computers and purposefully use that time to connect to yourself mindfully. 

When you are refrain from the digital world for a specific period of time, this gives you an opportunity to reduce stress and anxiety. It helps you to focus on interacting more socially in the physical world instead of being present in the virtual world.

How unplugging helps you to connect to yourself mindfully:

Disconnecting yourself from the digital world gives you a beautiful opportunity to spend time with yourself and explore your inner journey.

Setting your time limit:

It’s always a good idea to set a time limit for being plugged in to the electronic gadgets you are using or the social media you are currently logged in. 

It helps you to finish your essential tasks within that preset frame of time and you can easily log out or unplug yourself after that time limit. 

Setting a time frame affirms your mind that all the works are done and this affirmation paves the way towards peace of mind.

Connect, communicate and contemplate:

This is my strategy to use social media platforms. At first, connect to the outer world, communicate with your circle, and then, come back to your inner world and contemplate your experience. 

This way, you can keep your peace of mind even after using the social media for a bit longer than usual. You can read more about this strategy here.

Setting your priority list:

Setting your priority list is another important task that you must do when you are planning to unplug yourself from the virtual world. Keep the task you need to execute at first, and plan the list accordingly. 

Do them one by one, one task at a time. This technique helps you to keep things organized in your life and thus, your mind refrains from wandering around.

Maintain a journal:

When you are unplugged from the digital world, you can keep a journal and express your thoughts on paper, either through words or arts. 

Journaling helps you to bring clarity to your vision. It’s an effective way through which you can connect to your inner self in a deeper way.

An act of self-discovery:

I have seen it many times that whenever I take a break from social media or other digital platforms and engage myself in something creative, it gives me a chance to explore myself in a new way. 

Unplug yourself from all kind of digital media and involve yourself in something that helps you to connect to your inner self. Give yourself a chance to pause, to ponder, and embark on the way of self-discovery.

Finding something else to be plugged in:

Now we are living in such a way that spending an hour without using gadgets or checking in to social media or surfing the internet seems a Herculean task for all of us. But, could you remember, how was your life before these things became an inevitable part of your daily routine?

Life was simple and sweet. There was more peace of mind as we were more connected to the real world than the virtual world. We used pen and paper to write down our random thoughts (though many of us do this still, but this good habit is nearly disappearing from life). 

We called our friends and relatives from the telephone booth on the weekend, and as the time limit was short for every call, the conversation was more mindful at that time. We had the television set and the transistor as the only medium of entertainment. 

Recreation was reading good books, listening to oldies in the radio shows, going to the market with families for dinner, evening walk in the nearby parks, talking to the old people to gather wisdom (and that’s why there was respect for them that I often see lacking in this generation kids) and helping them in chores, playing with neighborhood kids and lots more. At that time, we celebrated life, everyday.

But now everything has changed. We are too connected to the digital world that we forget to take a look at what is happening in the real world. 

However, there are still ways that can help you to stay unplugged from the digital world. I have picked some of them here.

Try these activities to take a mindful break:

When you are unplugged from the digital world, you can try:

• Cooking
• Dancing
• Learning new skill
• Connecting to your old friends
• Writing
• Playing indoor and outdoor games
• Playing with children
• Spending more time with family

How I unplugged from the digital world:

As I paused for some days and relished myself in some peaceful moments, I want to share my experience with you all. Here is how I spent the time:

Being a thinker:

This is one of the best thing that happened during the state of unplugging. I focused on introspection and had a deeper look at my inner self. And what happened next is a magic!

I saw some ordinary things glittering like a stardust. And I found a new perspective of life, once again.

Being creative:

Although, I was dwelling in pain, I thought of involving in some creative tasks to divert my attention and spending time being a creative soul. I was back to singing after many months. I spent some time with my singing, almost everyday. 

And that lead me to start a new venture. My sister and I made a number of videos with her arts and my singing. And now, we have created our YouTube channel and we are uploading our videos there to share them with our friends and family members. I really enjoyed the whole process.

Being a reader:

This break gave me a great opportunity to finish some unread books from my library. One of them is ‘Here, There And Everywhere’ by Sudha Murty, the book I enjoyed reading a lot for the beautiful short stories.

Being me:

That time (even I am doing this still now) I was me. The real me. The carefree me. The calm me. I read my favorite books, I was into singing, watching my mom doing crafts and my sister doing arts, looked at the blue sky (I so love to see the sky and the sea for their vastness), stared at the empty road, and just let myself be me. 

The real me whom I love, I care, and I am proud of. And what is the best thing that happens when you spend more time with yourself is, your values and choices become more important to you.

Your vision gains a clarity, your thoughts align, and your beloved things come closer to you.

And tell me, what could be better in life?

Final Words:

Take a break to unplug yourself from the digital world and give yourself a chance to connect to the inner self mindfully. What’s your idea of digital detox? 

How would you like to spend your time with yourself taking a break from the virtual world? Do let me know your views on that.

© Rethink Mindful (Swarnali Nath) 

Image Courtesy : Canva

For the last few months, I am on a self-declared vacation mode. I am doing nothing, literally nothing. Even the universe wants me to spend time this way! Oh, you don’t believe in me? Wait. I am telling you how I received the affirmation. One night, before going to sleep, I was aimlessly surfing the internet. I saw, the content creators are coming with so many various and new contents, and that also on a regular basis. I thought I am doing nothing and just relaxing, it’s been long I am spending time like this, closer to a lazy baby tigress who just loves to change her sleeping place and yawns. I told myself, “It’s enough. Be some energetic now and wear your creative hat. Start doing something from tomorrow morning only.”

Oh my happy soul. How innocent she is. After this beautiful affirmation, she went to sleep with an expectation that the next day (right in the morning, I mean), ahh, something very nice, very creative is going to arrive on earth. The next morning came, and passed. The afternoon came, and passed. The evening came, and passed. When the night came, I tried to remember that ohh, it seems like I made some promise yesterday. But whom? And what? I just couldn’t remember. After some minutes, I left interrupting my mind from aimless wandering, and let it free. As an obedient student, my mind started jamming and rocking and a lot more. Gradually, I fell asleep.

After some days, I was determined to start doing something. I wrote on my journal the pending tasks and assured myself to start executing them one by one from the very next day. But what happened next, when I started doing those things all together, all the tasks jumbled up and I got confused where to start! As a conclusion, I thought it’s better to keep them unfinished, and just enjoy floating on the boat of doing nothing.

At that moment, I remembered this beautiful Italian phrase: Dolce Far Niente, that means the sweetness of doing nothing.

The art of doing nothing:

In Italy, people enjoy relaxing and resting the mind with doing nothing. This might sound a bit luxury for many, but it’s a wonderful art of being in meditative state even when you are doing absolutely nothing. This phase is like idleness filled with sweetness and you just sit and relax. You might address it as being lazy or blame yourself for not being enough productive or creative. It’s like spending your days carefree, without rushing towards your to-do-list and finishing the tasks scheduled for today.

Niksen is the Dutch concept of doing nothing and spending your leisure hours by absorbing the gift of this nothingness. It’s all about doing something without any predefined goal or a certain purpose; it’s actually, purposefully doing nothing!

Just think for once, isn’t it amazing for all of us, to have a small break from the rush of life and sitting in the balcony to watch the sunset colors? Or, to walk on the grass field, just feeling the softness of the grass below your feet? Or, just lying lazily on the bed and simply doing nothing and letting the time pass by?

I know, many people might think that this doing nothing concept is nothing but an act of luxury or laziness. But, the truth is, this is a beautiful way to gift yourself some moments of peace and calm, without thinking about the outer world, at least for a while.

Because this is all about being present in the moment and letting yourself flow in the momentary bliss.

Doing nothing is important for your peace of mind:

This special state of doing nothing gives you the stillness of mind. It is about you are breathing out as much as you are breathing in. When you have a long list with your tasks scheduled for the day or the week or the month, it’s obvious to end up being stressed out. You will be worried about the proper execution of your tasks. Moreover, they need to be delivered by the deadline. So, these thoughts make you anxious and create extra burden to your mind.

But, if you can find some moments when you will be doing nothing and rest your mind, you will find a way to bring back the peace of mind and restore your energy to restart the work. It might happen that a part of you still keep thinking about the absconding jobs, cancelling the meetings, not showing up for long time or don’t be able to do multitasking. But assure yourself by saying that you are not giving up things, you are just taking a break.

You are trying to balance things in a peaceful way. This time, this moment, is all about giving yourself a bit of rest and enjoying being in the moment. Relish yourself to relinquish your ever wandering mind by doing nothing, and watch the magic happen in the middle of that nothingness.

This is time for some quirky questions to life and getting their unpredictable replies.

The other ways to spend time doing nothing:

Even when you are doing nothing, actually, you are doing at least one thing. It might seem that you are just chilling and giving yourself some well deserved me time, but it’s also true that even in that nothingness, you are still active. You are doing the thing that you love to do, that gives you happiness, and you can feel calm from within.

If you want to spend time this way, you can try one of these activities:

• Reading
• Journal Writing
• Random Scribbling
• Listening to Music
• Walking
• Meditation
• Work Out
• Sitting beside the window and watching nature’s beauty
• Doodling
• Sketching

How to learn the art of doing nothing:

Though it looks so simple to be in the state of doing nothing, but the fact is, it’s an art that you need to learn. Simply doing nothing is as tough as to living without your beloved mobile phone. Because, when you aim to sit casually beside the window and let the world pass by, even at that time, you might have some thoughts in mind about your pending tasks, your children, your work, your life and many more. So, here are some ways that can help you to spend time doing nothing without any worries. 

Define your own doing nothing mode:

Everyone is different, everyone is unique. All of us define peace and calm in our own ways. So, it depends on you that how would you like to define your doing nothing activity. You can read, you can write, you can sing, you can dance. You can listen to your favorite music and watch it rain, sitting beside the window. Even you can doodle or draw something without thinking about it’s outcome. Don’t judge yourself that you’re not doing something worthy or something useful. You don’t need to do something productive always. Just let yourself flow with your happy pace.

Find where your happiness lies:

The main purpose of this doing nothing state of being is to gift you the sweetness of nothingness. So, you need to focus while you are choosing the right activity for your leisure. Choose the one that gives you happiness from within. Choose the way of relaxing that offers you peace and calm. Don’t be stressed out if you can’t find anything suitable for your happy leisure. Just sit with a cup of coffee and listen to your favorite singer. Or have a bowl of popcorn and watch your favorite movie, forgetting that how many times you have watched it before. After all, it’s all about being happy by doing nothing.

Start with small steps:

At first, start with smaller time frame. You can start with having a five minutes or ten minutes break from the daily schedule and let yourself indulge into doing nothing. Choose a time when you are less bothered with the world and thoughts come up to your mind are not that much important to you. Choose a place where you feel comfortable, and start delving into the mode of doing nothing.

Focus on your peace of mind:

Remember one thing, this doing nothing phase is all about restoring your peace of mind. So don’t be hard on yourself for searching the way how you want to relax. You can choose anything to do, you can pick something from the above listed activities or you can simply do nothing; just allowing yourself to rest with some moments of peace and calm.

Slow down:

I always focus on taking a meaningful pause from the rush of life. It’s true that you can’t take the long awaited break whenever you wish to have. But, after a tough schedule, you must deserve to take a proper rest. That time, you need to slow down and let yourself calm down. You might need to disconnect yourself from all the distractions and unplug yourself from the world. At that time, take a pause from your daily schedule, slow down, and have some blissful moments doing nothing purposefully.

Fix a specific time duration:

When you are about to start being in the doing nothing mode, you need to figure out how much time you can dedicate to this phase. Whether you pick something to pass this time or you choose to do absolutely nothing and relax yourself, you can fix a time slot for that. It could be fifteen minutes or thirty minutes or one hour a day, or a week. Just make sure that you don’t be hard to yourself in that duration of doing nothing phase. Be calm and let yourself flow with time.

Concluding Thoughts:

So, how are you going to find your Niksen time or float yourself in the state of doing nothing? I am eager to know your take on that. Please let me know your unique ideas and share your own beautiful way of doing nothing.

Happy Niksen to you!

(This blog post is part of the blog challenge ‘Blogaberry Dazzle’ hosted by Cindy D’Silva and Noor Anand Chawla.)