digital sabbatical

i've just read this post at Gwen Bell's site...about how she's taking a month-long digital sabbatical in July...and, boy, does that sound appealing. so i've decided to do the same...sort of. after all, it already appears that i'm taking a summer sabbatical on my blog.

first i wanted to give you an update on Colleen's (Communicatrix) annual goals process i mentioned in the last post. i've been doing it daily for about 6 weeks. in that time, i may have missed about 4 days...days when i woke late (for me) and was dashing about to get somewhere quickly and didn't give myself a few minutes of focused contemplation before starting my day. but overall i've been quite diligent. i've tweaked Colleen's method in a couple of ways to adapt it to what i needed right now.

since i didn't already have a list of concrete annual goals, i've allowed mine to morph over the weeks...to sort of crystallize naturally within the process. so instead of starting off with 10 goals and then religiously writing down the same 10 daily, i've dropped a few along the way and seen a few others morph into something else.

the other tweak is that i've added a section on the back of each daily page. i write the annual goals at the top of the page in my spiral notebook and my daily to-do list (with check-off boxes) in the bottom half of the page, just as Colleen does. but the next morning, before i start a new page, i flip over the previous day's page and write the heading "(date) unexpected gifts"...because every single day contains surprises and gifts that we couldn't have anticipated. i suppose it's a form of retroactive gratitude...to remind myself that even on days when i felt down or like nothing went 'right,' there's always a gift in there somewhere.

early tomorrow morning i leave for a 3-day road trip with some family members, followed by a couple of weeks with a bunch of my family half a country away. since i really am a Luddite at heart...i don't own a laptop or smartphone or netbook...i'm going to allow myself some truly offline time during the first half of July. like Gwen, i've been active on Twitter since 2007. in fact, i found Gwen that summer when she was live-tweeting BlogHer. it's been delightful to watch her online presence grow and blossom. like Gwen, i've been blogging since 2003...and social media has changed dramatically in the last 7 years. what i've always liked about Gwen is that even online, she seems to radiate a sort of centeredness and authenticity. maybe that's her long-time yoga practice at work, i don't know. but i suspect it's also due to having the foresight to take breaks from all the chatter when she needs to. so kudos to her for taking a July sabbatical.

when i return in mid-July, i'll decide if i want to stay offline for the remainder of the month or dip my toes back in slowly. you know, it's funny. summer is my favorite season by far, and for that reason, July has always been my favorite month. maybe that stems from summer vacations during school years. some of June was always spent in school and August meant preparing to go back...but July was untouched by obligation. i'd like to experience another July like that...one that's not about keeping up...just being me.

wishing you a great July.

Comments

[shelagh]

Have a marvelous July!!!!!! Enjoy some YOU time.

[lindsey]

thinking of you. enjoy the road trip. don't follow in the griswold's footsteps!

xo

[linda]

Have the best July ever!

[mari]

I always miss you when you're on hiatus, sabbatical, self-imposed stoppage, etc. I really, really do.

[Ari Herzog]

An inveterate traveler, my best times are when I don't plan them but they happen: people I meet on the sidewalk, road signs that look magical when the sun glints a certain way, tumbleweed.

It's noble to say you will determine things on a certain day, but you might be more pleased (and more productive) by letting things happen not by a plan but because they are supposed to happen.