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I haven’t been writing any articles for at least a month now. I also have been off the internet for at least two weeks in that time span. OMFG! (I can hear you screaming and pulling your hairs out). It’s actually quite simple: I moved out and I had to get my ISP to install my new connection in my new place.

At first, I was really worried with it all. I mean, Zen Happens is still pretty new and I didn’t want to loose my momentum and put all my efforts to implant it in the blogosphere right to the trash! Also, I hadn’t taken the time to contact my new ISP to ensure a quick service and avoid being offline for too many days. What was going to happen?

I would have never expected that this would have been such a blessing…

Yep, that’s right, an absolute blessing!

Being off the internet for the past while as had a very positive impact in my life and plus it didn’t affect Zen Happens negatively at all! Comments kept on coming in and my readership constantly went up. Really different from what I had expected in the first place.

So I thought I would share with you the ups and downs I gained from being separated from mother Web and also what lesson I learned from it. Who knows, you might want to try it for yourself!

The Unsuspected Addiction

It is only when you loose something that you realize how much you are attached to it. Now, I don’t consider myself as an Internet addicted person. I have many others interests than being online and my life as a musician and yoga instructor doesn’t even give me the opportunity to sit all day in front of my imac. I have good friends that spend at least 60 hours a week in front of their screen yet do not see themselves as internet addict (sorry Jon, I know you’re working hard!).

Ok, the word addict is a bit pushing it so let’s use: Online Dependence, it has a more respectful ring to it. Anyways, I soon realized that I was attached, in a way, to my online presence. No emails, no stats, no Stumble Upon, no Twitter! I thought my world was ready to crumble.

What a relief that was! All these things that I thought I would miss felt so unnecessary at the time being. All these emails from friends, bloggers, clients and all that jazz that I wasn’t getting, all this inaccessible world that was slipping away from me, all of this felt great and I wanted more (or less) of it.

Less Input, More Outcome

Oftentimes, we do not realize the insane amount of input we expose ourselves to simply by turning on the computer. This is not to be treated lightly. Our brains have to process uninterrupted information that is spewing and rushing at us from myriad of sources ranging from emails, social media, music, videos, spam (it still exists on pc’s) and countless others. This means more choices, more decisions, more stress, a feeling of having accomplished a lot and yet leaving us with less satisfaction.

Being offline removes all that extra input. Since I do not own a television, that wasn’t an option either. That freed up so much time for me to do meaningful tasks and activities. It proved to be very useful once I got into my new apartment. I really took the time to make the place my own and to put the right vibe to it. I did more yoga and meditation, prepared my meals with care and took the time to enjoy them without any screen in front of me, Went for walks and bike rides around my new neighbourhood and discovered how beautiful the area was. It permitted me to just be for a while.

Getting in touch with your Core Values

This as nothing to do with the relationship you have with your abdominal region, it’s about realizing what really matters to you. What is it that, in the end, will make a true difference in your day? There is a lot to say about core values, how they drive your life and how you can discover them. That will be plenty of material for another article.

Here, let’s just say that, having the opportunity to slow down and experiencing life with less input, disturbance and stress, I was able to reconnect with what I feel is really important to me. It could be as simple as enjoying a nice tea with the lights dimmed while listening to relaxing music after a yoga session. Globally, it made me realize that some small yet important things were less and less present in my life the more I was involved online. Now, I make sure to remind myself to create the time to do these things that matters to me.

When You Become Your Habits

There is one thing in particular that I keep from this little experience:

Everything we do is habit forming. The only varying factor here is repetition.

The more you experience something, the more you are familiar with it, the more you are likely to go back to that same experience.

That also goes the other way around:

The less you experience something or the less you are exposed to it, the less likely you are to go and repeat that same experience.

You could replace the experience by Going online or by anything that applies to you. My point here is that, as human beings, we are very flexible and adaptive. We have the ability to make pretty much everything we do a habit. These habits allow us to be on autopilot for doing tasks that we have already learned and that do not require all our attention. Think about that. How many tasks have you already learned that do not require you full attention? I would bet at least a thousand.

• Do you think it’s possible that some of these habits or tasks may be unnecessary?
• Did you stop and observe yourself while enacting these habits?
• Do they serve a tangible purpose or are they just putting you on autopilot?

In the end, I believe that what matters is that your habits serve your purposes and not the opposite. Whatever the nature or importance of the habit is, it should be built with an intention attached to it.

This means that if you go online to check your RSS reader for the sixth time today, not really sure what you are looking for or just to wait for the latest hot article on your list, that may be a sign that some of your daily actions turned into useless habits.

Would You Consider Going Off The Internet For A Few Weeks?

• Would that scare you?
• Do you believe your business or social life would suffer from it?

I think there is nothing that cannot be repaired by an email or avoided by letting people know in advance that you wont be available online or by outsourcing some of your vital tasks to someone else. If you try it, you will see and you may be surprised like me that, you don’t miss it at all.

On that note, I’m going to step off my screen and enjoy the sun now.

Zasta

Tags: Balanced Living, Habits