In the spirit of the topic we’re covering, I'm keeping this one short and sweet to honor your time.
When we pay attention to TIME, we realize that it connects everything. For me, so much of my healing has been from seeing how very sacred time has been in my life. I wake up to the truth that there is a thread weaving themes through the fabric of my life, and even throughout all of time’s history.
I have this moment. These few breaths of air on this earth.
You’ve heard it said:
Time is fleeting. Time is precious. Time is a gift.
I say YOU are the gift to time, and taking you out of the equation leaves you empty and unfulfilled. Meanwhile, time missed out on you and your gifts, and so did humanity.
Darkness doesn’t need to destroy us if it can distract us for long enough.
- Bob Goff
“How are we spending our time?” is not a shaming question, it is an inviting question. Inviting us into spaces of action and creation and the deep waters of life.
In the digital wellness world, we look at the three C’s as focus points on how we’re spending our time online:
Creating
Connecting
Consuming
Creating and connecting are both ways we contribute online, whereas consuming is how we take in online content. We will get more in-depth on Contribution vs. Consumption in a later post, focusing on participating in the online world rather than simply viewing the online world. For now, I’ll just say that as important as it is to take in information and consume content, we mentally reach a point where consumption can overwhelm us, whereas creating and connecting can be a more fulfilling way to spend our time online.
Taking stock of how much time we spend on our devices and how we spend time on our devices is a worthwhile investigation. And it is not hard. Our technology does the work for us with all of its tracking. Here’s a practice that broke this down for me. I turned my Screen Time on in the settings on my phone and watched it for a while. It landed on about an average of three hours a day. I then took that 3 hours a day and multiplied it by 365 days. Then I divided that by 24 hours, and the number 45 came up. (Sure there are easier ways to do that math, but that was my process). 45 days this past year spent on my phone. So much of it was good stuff. Talking to and texting friends and family, work, audiobooks or podcasts, maps, pictures and videos, connecting on social media,… Yet I asked myself, “What would I have done differently without my phone to fill those 45 days?”
Here are a few intentional checkpoint questions. You can write your answers or just contemplate them.
How am I spending my time online? What apps am I in the longest, and am I contributing or consuming?
Am I showing up present and engaged with the people in my life offline?
Am I present with myself and paying attention to my needs (physical, mental, emotional, relational, spiritual)?
What am I doing with my time in this season of life?
Time flies, whether you’re wasting it or not
- Crystal Woods
-Dawn Wible
Find resources for healthy digital habits at talkmoretechless.com