Got your attention now?

Yep, I went on a diet over the Christmas holidays no less and did not give up a single food I loved.  Amazed?  Well my diet was a bit of a different type.  I didn’t give up food.  Instead I gave up technology.

Some people cannot be near a bag of chips or a bowl of ice cream without digging in.

  For me, if my iPhone is near or my computer is on (which it is 24/7) I want to be connected and plugged in.  It is not always work that is the draw or just email.  I want to know what the weather is going to be like in New York City, what’s going on on Facebook, and lets not forget my Bejeweled 2 app.  And so it was, I was addicted to my technology and decided to take a break from it all while we went on our family vacation.

Here are my stats.

  We were gone for 11 days.  The iPhone was in airplane mode the entire time which means no access to data, the internet or email on my cell.  I checked email just twice the whole time.  And I managed for the first time in at least several years to really turn off and relax.  It was WONDERFUL.  I feel like a new person!  Now of course, the fact that I was gone over the holidays where not much is going on anyways helped matters and since touching down at home on Friday, I am back on my technology feast.  But…none of that matters.  I had a break and it was amazing and I am now planning to make it an annual tradition.

I learned some great lessons during my diet.

  I realized that I didn’t really miss anything by not always being on and reachable.  Things that were important got taken care of and I wasted much less time looking at trivial things.  I spent more time really listening and talking to my family and giving them my full attention.  And my stress level went down significantly just by taking a break.  Give it a try and let me know what you think.