Staying in the Dark

If you’ve been living in South Africa for any length of time, you’ll know that one of the downsides of living here is that we have frequent load-shedding due to our national electricity company being unable to provide us with enough power due to mismanagement and inadequate resources. But I’m not going to type out a post filled with complaints about the situation. Rather, I want to look at the positive aspects of being forced to live without electricity for several hours a day.

I’ve found that being forced to do without any tech or distractions for several hours a day is actually extremely beneficial. It helps me to get my mind off constantly checking messages or social media and rather focusing on more productive things. I can choose to read for an hour or to work on my writing. All things that are of more use, rather than reading tweets or constantly refreshing the news.

There are still plenty of ways to get distracted though, whether through your phone or laptop, it’s always possible to find a way to watch a show you’ve downloaded or a Netflix series sitting on your phone. But these extended periods of load-shedding have shown me that I can feel far happier if I learn to control my tech habits and to prioritize things better.

Take a chance to look at your lifestyle as well and see if there isn’t a way for you to make yourself feel better and more content by doing less with your tech, and more with your soul.

I’m publishing this as part of 100 Days To Offload. You can join in yourself by visiting https://100daystooffload.com.

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