Malone tries to take a break from technology

I’ve never understood how people complain about the stress of going on holiday, but now I do. Whilst I need to lie down with the sun on my face (who doesn’t? I’m trying to imagine someone saying; “God last thing I need is a holiday!”) I’m just not ready to go, I have too much to do. I booked the holiday in January and paid it off at £20 a week like the kind of thing my organised northern aunties would do. I thought a holiday at the end of winter would keep me going in the dark months, but it’s actually added stress. Whilst it’s cheap, the actual time away with so much to do work wise is stressing us out. The boyfriend has his MA deadlines and I am always on a deadline.

Recently I’ve realised as a mother I never relax. Sure I sleep a lot in between running about but it’s so hard to actually do nothing, or do something relaxing. And I don’t mean sitting on the sofa playing games on the iPhone during the advert breaks. Smart phones seem to hinder true relaxation. There should be a relaxation app where it turns the blummin’ mini computer off for 15 minutes every three hours! Years ago we’d stare out the window for ten minutes, our pupils appreciating the need to recalibrate themselves on far away objects. A few minutes lost as our brain slows to an alpha brain state (daydreaming) and we truly relax. I’m sure there’s an app that will help my brain go into alpha but how about just turning the blasted thing off? I don’t think I’ve turned my iPhone off in three months.

Yesterday it ran out of battery for hours, it was bliss. Instead of constantly pressing refresh on my email and sifting through kitten videos on Facebook, I actually refreshed my retinas by staring out the train window, observed the human specimens around me and let my mind wander to a place of ‘nothing’ and ‘everything’.

I started imagining in my mind a world of family and work life I wanted to create. They say you can’t manifest anything unless you first create it in your mind’s eye. Walt Disney said; “If you can dream it, you can do it”, but first you have to dream it! I’m sure our modern world of constantly being online veers us away from dreaming it! We need to learn to have respect for our brains and turn off our smart phones often, rather than distract ourselves with games and news feeds. Instead of filling up our brains we need to empty them. On holiday I can’t wait to stare at the clouds moving across the sky from my lilo. I just need to organise holiday insurance, do my online check in, order my euros online, Google the weather, ring my phone company, call my bank. Oh, not time to turn my smart phone off yet then.