Karen. Yes, I've got something on my mind. I know, I
heard that big sigh. Yeah, it's something I'm struggling with a little bit,
but something I think it's really important we talk about, all right.
You know how a few weeks ago I went on a silent solitary retreat.
Yes, it was not silent by choice. Not silent. That's true.
You had no one to talk to, that's true. That's true. So
I went on this solitary retreat, and I guess I should back up at
the end of last year. Towards the end of the year, I was
so unbelievably burnt out that I thought I was gonna lose my mind. Right,
So an unbelievably generous gesture Christmas time, you got me a solitary retreat.
You sent me out to the mountains I did of Virginia, to an
eco lodge, which I thought was really cool to go spend some time five
days by myself out in the middle of the woods with no cell service,
very spotty WiFi, and really no digital devices. I thought, I really
thought that it was exactly what I needed. I needed to disconnect. I
need to be in the middle of nature. I need to reconnect with nature
when it needed to be by myself without any electronics around me, so I
can actually reconnect with who I am. However, when I got there,
although the place was really cool, it's in the middle of winter, so
there's not a lot of people in this equal lodge, it was really me
and zero of my closest friends. Really, it was me and no friends.
No one. Did you see anybody? I saw like the maintenance guy.
That's right, that one time. Briefly I saw the maintenance guy,
and I did not see any other guests at all, although I did see
evidence that they were there. Things had been moved. Maybe it wasn't people.
Oh don't get me started on that. But there was garbage left in
places, There were dishes in the sink or washed dishes. I mean,
there's definite, definitely evidence. I heard voices speaking things like that, but
I didn't see anybody until the last day. As I was leaving. Well,
all I had to do was meditate and read, and that to me
seems like heaven. However it was I was. I wasn't jiving with it.
The vibe was not right with me for some reason. I wasn't enjoying
it. Every time that we were able to find a way to talk,
to communicate, I would tell you, like, it's not I don't know,
it's like and it's not exactly what I'm saying. It wasn't working.
Yeah, it wasn't working. They weren't distressing. The still felt anxious.
That's right, that's right. And at the like the last day or so
when I extended the trip hoping that I could maybe find some way to find
that zen, the last days, when I finally started going, oh okay,
I'm starting to feel it was just a slight start to feel because then
the next day I had to go. Well fast forward to about a week
later, and I was meditating and all of a sudden it hit me.
It smacked me in the middle of the forehead exactly what had been happening,
which was this is the important part. The problem was that I was so
addicted to my devices. I'm so addicted. I was so addicted to being
entertained constantly, to constantly being on my phone, to my computer and my
tablet on something I always, I always to be doing something that the act
of me not having that anymore and being forced to sit and meditate or read
and do nothing else for five blissful days. Was the opposite of blissful.
I actually I went through withdrawls. I was having the DTS. I was
having the junkie. Hey man, you got any more of that electronic on
you that I couldn't distress because I was going crazy. I was going through
withdrawal symptoms. When I came home. The first thing I told you I
wanted to just be like I wanted the family to put away the devices for
a while. I wanted to just be. I couldn't as I'm making my
coffee, which takes all of five minutes, maybe ten minutes, I couldn't
just sit there and wait for my coffee to be brewed. I had to
be on my phone or check my emails, or watch a show or something
on my electronics. I had to be doing something. I had to be
constantly entertaining myself, and the act of not having that made it really difficult
to just be. I know, I mean, you are preaching to the
choir. I hate to say I told you so, but it's been years,
yeah that we've been having this conversation, but I'm I'm glad you finally
got it. It's very, very true because then all of a sudden,
as I'm thinking back on my trip, on my solitary retreat, it was
glorious. It was exactly what I needed. It really was. Had I
only not been addicted to these devices, I would have been able to really
truly enjoy Karen five days, I know, reading, meditating, that's all
in the woods, in nature, hiking. Yes, And I could tell
how bad it was because here you had the chance to go to these incredible
caverns, lary caverns. And your response to your initial response to that when
you told me about it, was like, well, the driver was really
stressful at first. It was like, oh, it's an hour away,
and I think I'm going to go. I'm like, what do you mean,
You're not going to go? You have to go? You're only an
hour away? Yeah? Yeah, And and in fact it was the cavernter
spectacular. No, I saw the pictures, truly spectacular, But it was
all I could focus on is the stress, the anxiety I was going through
because what I was feeling was withdrawal symptoms. So when I look around after
that, at everywhere I go, everybody has their nose on their phone.
Yep, all the time, all the time, all the time. And
that's the problem. When you're sitting with a group of people, you're like
texting or posting or whatever something that people you have no idea who they even
are, instead of appreciating the people that are surrounding you and talking to them.
Not you, but I just mean everyone in general, right right.
And I think that we as humans, as souls, humanity as a whole,
we are meant to take time to do nothing. We're meant to be
quote unquote bored. We're meant to be in moments of silence because it's what
helps our brains to process, our minds, to connect, our spirits to
reach out, and that's what also allows the creative juices to flow. Because
when you're sitting there being board, you think of something to do, or
you just daydream, which is a wonderful thing. People are like, oh,
you're just daydreaming, wasting time, but you're not. Well, you're
connecting with yourself. You're connecting with your higher self, with your inner self.
And that's a lost in our society these days. It's completely lost.
I know I had lost it completely, and the realization hit me that,
oh my gosh, I had this perfect opportunity, and I blew it because
I was so addicted to my electronics. So I urge everyone that's hearing this
right now. It's going to be hard. It's going to be maybe five
days of terrible withdrawal symptoms. But put your phones down for a while when
you're brewing your coffee. Don't check your emails. Don't check your Facebook or
your Instagram, your Twitter's, your whatever's. Don't just put it. Put
it down. First thing in the morning, when I woke up, I
picked up my phone to see what messages I had gotten. The last thing
I do before I went to bed. I checked my phones before I rolled
over to go to sleep, to check and see there's any last minute messages.
I'm forcing myself not to do that anymore. I don't check my email
on my phone until I get to work now, which is good. Hours
later, hours later. It will keep. It will keep, and it
will be difficult at first, but it's so important because now I'm at the
point where I have a long way to go yet, but I'm starting to
reconnect with that inner self that reminds me of how important in space actual my
alone time is. And by alone time, I could be with a whole
bunch of people. But I'm just sitting here and not doing anything other than
being present with the people that are around me, and that, to me
is magic. Well, I don't think that would necessarily be alone time.
I think unfortunately people are doing now when they're sitting with a group of people
and they're on their phones. It's not that it's alone time, it's isolating.
They're isolating themselves from the connections that they could be making. So I
think being present isn't being alone. But you don't have to go out to
the mountains for five days. You can just you know, go for a
walk around the block and have your alone time. And I think it'll be
so much more impactful now than it was prior to this, because you're appreciating
it more and you're in the present. Mark, Yep, you're absolutely right.
But what I meant by alone time is alone with my own thoughts.
Gotcha. But still, if you're with a bunch of people, you know,
unless they're really boring, which are none of our friends are not at
all, which is which is amazing, which is wonderful. But good people,
we do have good, really good friends, a good community. But
when I see people in a restaurant across from each other on their each individual
phones. It breaks my heart. Now, Yeah, it's terrible because we're
all there as a society and I think, I hate to say it,
but it was, it was meant, it was on purpose, it was
design. We're programmed. We are a society right now of well instant gratification.
You can't be bored. You have to have your attention constantly fed of
consumers. Yeah. And another problem that this causes is if you're with someone
and you're on their phone. I know I felt like this many times.
The person that's not on their phone feels, you know, less important.
Yeah, and that's another reason to put your phones down. But I think
the most important message here is that we lived, at least us old folks
lived without cell phones for a very long time and we had a very happy
life. We had the best childhood we did. We did. Yeah,
but now I feel for my daughter who never got to go through that,
who loses her mind when she is bored for a minute and a half.
It's that technology that we need a break from. It is it is we
need to take a break. So I urge you if you're hearing this.
Please do yourself a favor and reconnect with your silence inside you. Put away
the electronics for a while. We live in this world now we have to
use electronics, there's no getting around it. But don't let it completely dominate
your life. Don't feel like you have to check your phone five times every
minute. You can put the phone away for an hour and not think twice
about it and just be sit there in silence by yourself. Enjoy your coffee,
feel how it tastes, how it feels going down, how you feel
sitting in your couch while you're listening to the birds chirp, whatever it is.
Just sit quietly and remove that addiction from you, and you are going
to be a much happier person, hands down. All right, that's all
I got it. Karen, Oh, that was a pretty good guy.
Thanks for thinking so