and the spiders from mars

I bit the bullet and I can’t be more excited.  During the day at work I thought about all the different things I might try to do that evening to pass the time and I realized the following:

 90% of my stress was GONE - By taking my computer out of the equation, I no longer had to worry about filling my time with something that felt productive or that I “needed” to get done.  I can’t pay my credit card bill, do my finances, look for a job, etc.  I have the ultimate excuse to relax.  I would have procrastinated anyway, and just wasted the evening away on the stumbleupon.

 Empty time - It felt like I had this HUGE void of time coming up that was me time.  And I couldn’t feel guilty about using it the way I wanted to.  I felt like, finally I have the time to start that project.  I always say to myself, “Its too late to start that.” or “The prep time will take too long.”  But not tonight.

 So, what really happened?  I ended up reading…a lot.  But, I also started and finished a ton of small projects that I felt I never had the time to do. I framed a newspaper clipping that I’ve had for 13 years and never took the time frame and hang on the wall.  It took 2 minutes.

However, not having a plan for the evening caused me to look for things to do.  I cleaned, organized, found old memories.  I also implemented projects that I’ve been putting on the side-burner. But I also felt I may have read too much, and I was replacing my computer and tv with another time sink.  I’m going to be more careful about the amount of time I devote these nights to reading fiction.

The more interesting side effect was that I slept wonderfully.  I think it was the best night’s sleep I’ve had in a long time.  I went to bed without a care in the world and woke up ready to go.

 For this project to be most advantageous to me, I’m going to have to spend some time planning for projects to do those evenings.  I think I’m going to try and build something.

What is Happiness?

Lifehacker blogged about an experiment: Reduce Screen Time with 52 Nights Unplugged [Distractions] ”Writer and self-described internet addict Ariel Meadow Stallings wants to be “more present in the present,” and for her that means reducing the amount of time she spends in front of the computer/TV/phone screen. To do just that, she’s started a new, year-long project called 52 Nights Unplugged. The rule is simple: once a week, for one night, she doesn’t do anything involving a screen. “

What really interested me about this project was the application of the project, and what kind of results one might experience while trying to implement it.  Its so easy to go online for “just a second” or kill 15 minutes after dinner with a basketball game on tv.  But what if you couldn’t fill your time with these distractions?

 What if you had to get creative?

 I wondered what one might be able to accomplish if they just devoted one night a week to that project that has been put off again and again.

 So, I decided to take the dive.  For one year I am going to set aside one night a week and follow along with her experiment and see how it effects me personally.