☀️ What Not Having Internet For 24 Hours Taught Me

This past Sunday I decided to spend 24 hours without any internet.

The intention was simple:

I wanted to see what I would do, how I would feel, and how I would navigate 24 hours at home without any Wi-Fi or data.

I also had prepared a list of things to have, just in case I ran out of things to do:

• A handful of albums downloaded on Spotify

• Two movies downloaded on Netflix

• Art supplies

• A new book I'm just starting called The Map of Consciousness

• Leftover food I have from the night before

Then, I set an alarm on my iPhone for 23 hours 59 minutes, and 59 seconds and started this spontaneous challenge for myself.

I wish I could tell you everything went smoothly and steadily, that as someone with a daily meditation and mindfulness practice, I could approach every moment of stillness and quietness like an experienced monk—with pure acceptance and surrender.

The reality was that the beginning was dreadful.

There were moments when I was sitting on my living room floor looking out at the apartment and feeling bored from head to toe.

There were also other moments where I experienced first-world problems around the inconvenience of no longer being able to rely on internet-powered tools or systems.

Like asking Alexa to turn on a specific set of lights.

Or trying to Airplay the movie I downloaded on my phone to my Roku sound bar (somehow completely forgot that Airplay requires Wi-Fi as well).

Or being able to look up something I wanted quick answers for (I was thinking about Maslow's hierarchy of needs and wanted to do some research around it)

But the more I sat with the new way of being in this way and accepted the feelings that came up, the more I realized how important these moments were.

And the more I leaned into it and swam in the discomfort, the more I could see the importance of this experiment.

Here are 3 things I learned from this 24-hour challenge:

1) How difficult it is to BE vs. DO

I've shared before about learning the difference between being vs. doing after I lost my job and became unemployed.

It's been 4 years since I've worked at a full-time job and have since been an entrepreneur, but I still notice just how incredibly challenging it is to lean into just BEING.

When I was sitting there, staring out at the distance, I could feel literal synapses in my brain trying to pull me in all these directions of DOING.

They're telling me to:

• Be productive and work on my coaching business

• Get up and move my body, to make better use of the time and squeeze in a workout

• To acquire more knowledge by reading any one of the 4 books I'm currently alternating between

• To call someone up to chat and catch up

In addition to that, any time I opened up my phone, I was constantly getting reminders that my phone wasn’t connected to the internet.

It felt like these devices were also yelling at me to get back to a world and mode that was familiar and comfortable.

Even when I opened my laptop, wishing to jot down a few notes about my experience thus far, I got a similar reminder:

The hardest part was knowing that the internet was only one click away from my phone.

And that's when it clicked in my brain.

It’s a similar realization I had when I decided to quit watching porn.

Or when I stopped consuming coffee.
Or when I quit alcohol.
Or when I stopped eating meat and became a pescatarian.

It was the realization that even though I wouldn’t go as far as to describe my relationship with these things as an “addiction”

I could still feel in my body an emotional and chemical reliance and attachment to how these things make me feel.

One of the reasons why it is still difficult to not start and end my days with my phone is because I am still attached and like having the internet reminding me of the things I need to do

Rather than just allowing myself to comfortable be.

While thinking about all this, I felt strongly for the first time that this boredom was important and trying to teach me a new lesson.

2) Being bored is good for us

I used to take pride in saying that I never feel bored.

I could honestly fill my days with 30-minute increments of activities and never have to feel any boredom kick in.

But that's also part of the problem.

Because I realize the feeling of boredom is not something we should avoid.

When you are bored and no longer leaning into your usual patterns of distracting yourself, your mind will naturally look inward to unearth what you want to do or explore.

You will tap into this inner voice that calls upon you to lean into and trust your instincts.

After just sitting there for at least 2 hours, I started asking myself: "What is it that you really want to do?"

I sat and listened. And listened.

Then I heard it.

It was in whispers, but I could hear it clearly like a faint lightbulb twinkling in the dark.

It led me to:

• Go for a run around Prospect Park, even though it was windy and raining outside.

• Draw and experiment with watercolor for the first time

• Jam out on my piano

• Dig through my storage to get out my guitar to play my old favorites

Once I heard that inner voice and listened to it, it felt like each activity I did was EXACTLY what I needed to do for myself to nurture my body and soul.

This boredom has taught me to tap into a part of me that knows what decisions to make to tap into a way of being that I’ve always aspired to.

3) Connection is complex

This whole experience made me realize how complex our relationship with the internet is.

As a kid from the 90s who witnessed and experienced the evolution of the internet and social media

I, along with many others, was given an idealized promise of the internet.

The promise is that these platforms and online avenues will help us feel more connected with others.

But that hypothesis is still yet to be proven.

I consider myself as someone who benefited greatly from using the Internet (like being able to write and share this piece).

I have also gone out of my way to use the web and digital tools as intentionally as possible to support the kind of connection, community, and life-building initiatives I want.

But sometimes I still wonder if the positive impact of the internet ultimately outweighs the negatives.

Over these years I have learned that:

• Our consumption of the internet can become problematic or addictive and can lead to more loneliness.

• Social media use contributed to the decline in mental health, both in teens as well as adults

• Consuming social media, especially for vulnerable teens between the age of 13 - 17, can contribute to more body dissatisfaction and potentially trigger more eating disorders.

I am still deciding for myself what using the internet in the long term means for myself and my future family.

But during the 24 hours, I did feel an increase in how connected I am to myself and my inner world.

And as a result, it didn't make me feel lonely, rather the opposite.

It made me feel so attuned to my humanity.

When I stepped outside to run in the rain and saw a few individuals running ahead or alongside me, I felt so connected to them in a way I didn’t even really have the words to describe.

Sometimes it takes us to disconnect from the world, to connect back to ourselves.

And once we connect to the deeper part of ourselves, that's when we feel ready or even compelled to connect with the rest of the world.

Questions to ask yourself:

What would your intention be if you were to do your own 24-hour challenge without using the internet?

And if that doesn’t interest you, what is a small experiment or challenge you can do to allow yourself to be more connected with your inner self?

☀️ How can I help?

If you enjoyed reading this week’s issue, here are two more things you can do:

1. Share it with someone else who will find it valuable.

2. Schedule a free call with me to discuss whether 1-on-1 coaching could be helpful to you on your journey!

And that's it for now! ✨

Thank you for reading this edition all the way to the end. I appreciate you 🙏

Thanks for being part of this journey.

Hope to see you in the next issue!