On Planning to Unplug...At Least For A While

On Friday, Helena board a plane to Old Orchard Beach, Maine to visit the Andrews clan. Things have been going non-stop since my last "vacation" in the summer of 2010. I put that in quotes because while it was a vacation from work, we drove to Alabama from Maryland and back and I was dealing with drama at the community theater that I was artistic director for at that time. So, really not a vacation.

This time I am planning to make it a true vacation. I've booked us a non-stop flight to Portland, Maine - flight is only 1 hr and 30 min which is less time than it takes to drive to Virginia from Silver Spring some days - and I'm going to "unplug" while I am away.

I've been reading about unplugged vacations online and many of the articles is about unplugging from everything - even electricity. For me, unplugging means turning off the cell phone and not going on the computer.

While these two things make it easier to stay "connected" I really don't think they connect us in anything more than a superficial way. The exception is actually talking on the phone. Sure you can learn a lot from the person you're talking to online, but there are so many things you get when you talk in person or on the phone that texting, IMing, Facebooking, and Tweeting just can't give you.

It's so easy to multitask conversations when they are done electronically - it's much harder to do when you've got someone on the phone or in front of you. This requires us to actually focus on the conversation and streamline our thoughts. This is a very hard thing for me to do anyway since my mind is always racing - it's also hard because I'm better at communicating through the written word than verbally. But that's a whole other blog post. Back to unplugging...

After a little sit down with my friends Sara, Jessica and Tim, I've decided to follow their advice and unplug while I'm on this vacation. From the time I get to my Grammy's house in Old Orchard Beach to the time I touch down in Baltimore I will be unplugged. No cell phone and no computer.

I don't include TV on this list simply because I'm the mother of an almost 4 year old and I'm sure we will be watching some movie at some point.

I must admit that I am a bit nervous about a whole week being offline and unreachable except to those who know my Grammy's phone number, but at the same time I'm looking forward to being able to focus my thoughts and be more in the moment. I've got a lot to process, plan and look forward to discovering on this trip.

I'll report how it goes when I get back and plug back in to the Matrix.