Let's take a look back.
If I could give a snap-shot of the 12 Months of Digital Wellness that we just walked through this last year it would look something like this:
Build a Life, Not a Brand ~ You are not a brand you are a HUMAN LIFE, treat yourself and others like it. Stop selling yourself, you already belong.
Our Distracted Mind ~ Give your brilliant mind SPACE. The world needs your whole healthy deep mind, and more importantly, so do you.
Your Good Body ~ Listen to it. Your temple is the most exquisite hospitable host. Treat her like it. She will lead you.
Our People ~ Reach out. Invest in your people. They are more worth it than any Netflix binge.
Your Time ~ The hijacking of your time is taking a toll on you. Take it back. Let your good body, mind, and spirit tell you where to spend your time. Get to know their voices and draw good boundaries.
Unplug ~ You will not regret time well spent off the grid. There is a reward waiting that you could never imagine.
Phone Dependency ~ But taking time away WILL surely bring up all you’ve been avoiding. Use your resources to get you through addressing your issues (counseling, trustworthy people in your life…) don’t simply stay dependent on numbing out.
Consumption, Contribution, & Capacity ~ Don’t sit out, judge, observe, or overconsume. This negatively affects your well-being. Your wise contribution is important. Participate. Know what to step into and what to step away from.
Kids/Family ~ Model what you ask of them & invite them on the journey of life. Don’t leave them out there alone. They need you.
Social Media ~ Keep it social. Don’t isolate. Choose accounts that fuel you and better you, not drain you. While this space can be fulfilling, it cannot replace real life friendships. Both/And.
Friendship & Loneliness ~ People are glorious and complicated. Choose the hard road of human connection. Loneliness is proven to negatively affect our mental state and even has an impact on our mortality. Learn to love your people. They are a worthy journey.
The Journey ~ Have you said yes to a journey? Get ready. It will change you.
When we choose to say yes to a journey, we are choosing change.
We have no knowledge of what that change will be. We just know it will be.
With this journey specifically, I said yes to learning to be present almost ten years ago. I didn't know it was called digital wellness then and I had no idea about the healing path it would lead me down. It was simply a spark that woke something in me and started to flicker. What began as an ambitious attempt to fix something broken in the world had to die. What is blooming is a curious, humble attempt at presentness in my own life.
I thought because I studied and practiced digital health that I knew the answers, but what I found was I have to live it. Experience. Walk down the path of my own story. What I longed for and needed, and how to offer that to those in my life. Even my moments of failure and humility. My kids have seen mine and feel more connected to me and I to them. That’s what Digital Flourishing looks like to me. Authenticity. Being with. Connection. Falling and helping each other up. My journey has been one of introspective healing for the healing of the whole. Isn’t that what Jesus asks of us? To look inward before we can ever look outward. To see ourselves, each other, and God there. In every moment. Presentness changes us. It heals us. We are beginning to be and to be with.
This holiday season I’ve let Emmanuel be my teacher in being present. God with us.
We can choose to say no to a journey. To look away from the suffering. To numb and stay the same. Keep the status quo. To let life just happen without opening our eyes, minds, or hearts. To say no to growth. But at what cost?
I’ll leave you with this. I’ve been reading about the effects of a Japanese practice called forest bathing, or shinrin-yoku. It is simply being in nature while connecting with it through our senses of sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch. It scientifically de-stresses a person, which we know is true about nature. I believe a trip to the woods among the trees would be life-giving, but I cannot shake the feeling that more than any detox experience, what we need most is the practice of Life Bathing. Immersing ourselves and our five senses in the everyday moments of our lives and our people. The beauty of this is we can do it right here. Looking at this new year let’s step into our journey with that in mind.
Look up.
Take it in.
And Live.
-Dawn Wible
Find resources for healthy digital habits at talkmoretechless.com
sources: Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, child mind institute, center for humane technology, digital wellness institute, pew research center, fairplayforkids.org, facebook.com