Hello! Long time no blog! I always make sure I have at least one entry per calendar month, so this month was cutting it close. I was short on time so I made this vlog/podcast. It came out really long but it’s been two months, and I’m not usually known for my few words.
Digital Detox
I’m leaving most of this to the podcast above, but basically, I was using screens too much and it was affecting my life, so I went to Barnes and Noble and got this book:
My attempts at a digital detox have not been 100% effective, but I’ve made some goals. I wish I could find the old commercial, but when “smart” technology was first starting to come out, there was a commercial with a man weighed down because he was carrying a comedic number of items: a flashlight, worldmap, etc. The point was that nobody can carry all of that, so it’s best just to get a smartphone and then you have everything you need. So, my goal has been trying to actually go backwards and own the bulky items necessary to avoid screens. So for example:
- I printed my favorite recipes and put them in a 3-ring binder to replace the recipe app
- I got a tiny booklet with monthly calendars to log when I take my meds
- I put a magnetic pad of paper on the fridge for the grocery list
- I got a little plastic zipper pouch for my backpack because I have more miscellaneous scraps of paper now
- I cancelled YouTube premium and bought a portable radio
- I got a fun book called “When Did I Last… ?” by Andrew Black to keep track of recurring tasks
- I pulled out a pocket journal to replace my notes app
- I’m full switching from Kindle books to paper books
- I replaced my broken wristwatch
I did feel very validated with the paper books thing recently when I wondered if the music I had previously bought and paid for ages ago on itunes was still available. Apparently it’s Apple Music now and I have an android. Well, they definitely still have the music, but they need like $22/month for a subscription to be able to listen to the music that I already paid for. They said that was because I couldn’t download the music onto an android device, so the music was paid for, but I had to pay for the app that would let me listen to it. I’ve always kind of suspected that this sort of thing would happen. Anything that I “own” that is digital can disappear at any time. That’s why I still have a DVD player. And I wonder to myself how to back up this blog.
Visit Home
I visited a dear friend who was hospitalized in the same hospital that I was at for 14 months in 2021-2022. I don’t want to talk too much about the friend due to hipaa, but I was amazed the peace that I felt just physically being on the unit. It was like the entire environment was a warm hug. I wondered if this is how some people feel when they go off to college and then visit home. Anyway, it was really interesting the sense of safety that came with the location, and I got a lot of closure by being able to talk to some staff I knew when I was there.
Lloyd Evans (YouTube influencer)
Lloyd Evans posted a community post asking for people’s life stories, so of course I obliged. I was doing it more for myself than for him, but he did send back a form letter that was warm and kind.
Work
Work has been really hard, just because I felt like my coworker didn’t like me, which put me into a freeze response and my working memory (which was already bad) went down the toilet and everything was awful. The standard advice is, “just be cognitively aware that it doesn’t matter if she likes you.” Which, it’s like walking on a glass floor 100 stories in the air. You might know it’s safe, but your sympathetic nervous system doesn’t give a š¤¬
My Book!!
I’m working on my book!! I’ve actually been putting a lot of time into it. It’s currently all on index cards. Some of the index cards were falling apart, so I scanned them so I can print a photo of the old index cards onto new index cards that are structurally sound. Then I made a searchable PDF backup of all of them (the ones that were fine and the ones that needed to be replaced). This should reduce how many duplicates get put into the stack, because I can search the document on Google Drive before making new index cards when I remember miserable things from my life. Hopefully, this will help me get my feet wet and I can eventually get back to the writing component, which is difficult emotionally.
Conclusion
So, that’s mostly it! I could go on obviously but I have other things to do today and definitely so do my followers š
