Do you want more joy, success, peace and happiness in your life? Maybe you don´t even need a coach, a psychologist or a vacation. Maybe you just need a digital detox! I ended up doing 3 weeks of digital detox -and this was what I found out….
Vacation in Spain = nice content, or is it?…
It was never the plan to do a digital detox. I have always seen myself as someone who is in control of my digital habits and my use of social media. But for some reason I ended up doing a digital detox for 3 weeks during my recent vacation in Spain.
My plan was to use some of my vacation in Spain to create some reallyyyy nice content. Now I finally had the opportunity to create beautiful pictures and colorful videos with sunsets, ocean waves, palms and old authentic buildings. But when I arrived with my papirs, plans and strategies a voice inside of my head said: “Just don´t”! What the fxxx? Why shouldn´t I? I am in control and I absolutely know how to chill, be present with my family and enjoy my vacation!
As you might have figured out, I decided to listen to that voice (afterall). Since it is my experience that the little (and sometoimes loud) voice in my head is much viser than I am, and so it was this time.
So why was it sooo good to do this digital detox? Let´s just take one reason at the time:
10 reasons to do a digital detox
- The world spins around without your presence: First of all you find out that the world spins perfectly around no matter if you check your Instagram account or not. Seems very logic right, but many of us believe that we are missing out on something if we dont check Instagram 150 times pr. day…
2. You experience clarity: You begin hearing the little voice in your head again. The voice that you couldn´t hear because of all the noice from social media. When you listen to this voice you experience clarity and you find out what you should really do which is never what everyone else is doing.
3. Your insecurity disappears: Have you been feeling insecure, anxious or depressed lately? Forget about going to the psychologist and just do a digital detox instead! Social media is trigging all of us to fell wrong and bad about ourselves. Everyone seem to have more success, more fun and just a much nicer life in general. When you turn off your phone and forget about social media (and the news too), you find out that you are perfect and that your life is actually kind of amazing. You don´t need that yacht to be happy. You already have the best friends in the world and a totally awesome family.
4. You become more present: For years I have tried mindfullness, meditation and the art of being present, but nothing really seem to work. There was just too much noice. During my 3 weeks of digital detox I noticed that I became present. Everything was more alive than ever before. I started to stop and look at all the flowers. Smell them, touch them and feel them. The sound of the ocean became stronger and everything around me felt alive. I also started playing oldschool games with my kids -which everyone enjoyed.
5. Become more creative: As a person I am very creative and lack of ideas is never a problem for me. But nevertheless the 3 weeks of digital detox gave me much stronger and deeper ideas. I was entering a new level I had never entered before. One thing is to be creative, another thing is to truly push the limit for transformation and new infights -and this actually happened!
6. More fun in your life : If you read about spiritual business growth, you will always hear that the direct (and stortest) road to success is to have fun. To lift your energy and shift into a new energy field that will push you towards your dreams faster than ever before. But how much fun do we really have?… How often do we even have time for fun?… And how do we have fun, when everyone on social media is having much more fun? The answer is….maybe you have guessed it: A digital detoxxxxx! Yes, that IS the answer. Want more fun in your life? Forget about that damn phone and enter the time of your life. It is so liberating to be social without phones. This summer I have laughed more than ever before. Not just because I was in Europes biggest waterworld (GOD, that was fun), but also because you just get more sharp and fun when you don´t think about your phone.
7. The key to a healthy lifestyle: This was actually one of the things I didn´t expect to be a consequence of a digital detox -a more healthy way of living. You often think that you get inspired to a more healthy life by looking at perfect bodies eating green stuff on social media, but no -it has the opposite effect (on most of us). What actually works, is to reconnect with your body (and mind) and feel what your body needs in the present moment. For me it was to rest and just do nothing. Which is not easy for me! I also read a lot of books, where one of these books reminded me of the importance of a strong and healthy body. Not because of appearance, but because of feeling GOOD!
8. You experience silence: If you want to be a better listener, silence is the key. It is not only important to listen to others, but also to listen to yourself. When we turn off the noice (from digital devices and social media) we experience silence and oh lord, how good that feels! It is just as if all of your sences is getting somekind of re-boot and you are suddenly able to catch the plate that fell out of your hands. You could almost say that the silence transform you into a ninja with superpowers.
9. More happiness: Yes, a digital detox will make you more happy. The virtual world is this extra layer or extra dimension which is a kind of meta-level that make us all super aware of who we are and who we should be. In other words, we begin comparing ourselves with others and we just feel overall bad about ourselves. Moving the phone away instantly reducec (or even removes) this problem. So if you want real happiness, just stop looking at that phone:-)
10. Stronger connections: Besides getting a stronger connection with yourself and your inner voice, the digital detox will also result in stronger connections with your partner, friends and family. Because you are more present, you become a better communicator. You will also experience a more calm mind that wants to solve the situation in the best possible way and not just act from emotion (and frustration).
How long should a digital detox take?
So that was it. 10 reason to put the phone away and get all the joy, superpowers and clarity you need. So how long should it take? One week? Two weeks or even months? How long time do you dare to zoom out of the virtual dimension? For me 3 weeks was perfect. It was enough to let me understand how our digital world really affect us and enough to inspire me to change my consumption of social media. But if we one day decided to go on an adventure and travel the world, I would absolutely go on a much longer digital detox.