This article is about my opinion on why you need to disconnect so you can live the kind of life you ideally want to live.
I’m someone who gets overwhelmed soon. I didn’t realize that in my 20s. I played tough as most people do in their 20s. We don’t really like being vulnerable and we don’t appreciate the necessity of opening up or being our authentic selves. We want to be a part of everything and stay connected with the things that seem easily acceptable to the people who we’d want to be accepted. I wasn’t any different. Anytime I felt like disconnecting or not going out or being single I felt guilty because I thought I was doing something that wasn’t ideally how it’s done.
You need to make more friends, you need to date, you need to be a part of a group, you need to dress and style in a certain way, you need to make this amount of money, you need to start saving, you need to always be doing something or the other, you need to be successful, you need to have it all, and you know the list just keeps going on and on.
And all I truly wanted was, to disconnect from all of this, even if for a little while. It took me a long time to realize that it’s pretty easy to disconnect. It’s easy to not get sucked into way too much noise.
At first, I went down the same road – yoga and meditation. It felt like the most obvious thing to do if I wanted to disconnect. It worked for a few days but not for a long time. I realized it required a lot more mindful choices and decisions that I needed to make. From the kind of people, I surrounded myself with on a daily basis, to the shows I was watching, to the kind of clients I chose to work with, basically a change in my complete lifestyle.
I realized I’ve always been living a slow living and minimal lifestyle but it felt more okay when I felt okay about it. It wasn’t an easy decision but every step of the way I felt it was okay to do less of things. It was okay to disconnect for a while. It was okay to take time off and do what I liked and appreciated in my life.
I knew it would require me to categorically prioritize things in my life. I knew I’d need to let go of things that pulled me down or made me feel like crap. I unfortunately also had to disconnect with people who were very important to me at one point in my life.
I slowly realized that it’s never that black and white. Sometimes the same strategies don’t work at all but you’ve got to try till you find out what means for you to essentially disconnect.
For me, it was to find my identity. As someone who gets easily overwhelmed by people, it also was easy to get influenced by people and question myself. I needed to disconnect to find who I was when I wasn’t influenced or overwhelmed.
For some of my clients, the disconnect is to find a balance between their passion and their day jobs. For some, the disconnect is just so they can travel. For some it’s so they can find a way to spend more time with their families. For some, a disconnect is required so they can connect with their body.
It’s different for each person but the need to disconnect is the same. The need to want to break that pattern of everyday life is the same. A disconnect doesn’t mean complete change. It essentially means, giving yourself the utmost priority most of the time. The timeframe of disconnect depends on your need.
A disconnect is healthy. It’s a requirement. It helps bring in some perspective, it helps you understand yourself better. Whether it's from people or habits, it’s a healthy way of being able to live your life on your terms.
Journal Prompts on Disconnecting
Take time out to journal these, meditate on it if it helps. Take your time to work on it too. Be kind to yourself and choose a way that’s healthy for you in the longer run.
Thank you for taking the time to read this article. I hope this helped you in some way. If you happen to journal some of these prompts, I'd love to learn more about your experience. Write to me at nikitavyas@outlook.in or just fill in this contact form.
All my love,
Nikita Vyas
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