I am happy to report that as I am about to complete Day 2 of the Diet I am still alive and breathing, not to mention feeling much more space in my life. The separation anxiety prevails but how could it not ? Aside from my own personal tethers to our electronically connected world, I am noticing more and more that I am not alone in this addiction.
Take yesterday at Equinox. First there was the short woman with the sunglasses, her legs moving quickly on the elliptical machine, clearly trying to keep up with the pace of her thumbs on the pink covered iPhone she held with both hands. Then there was the woman working with her trainer, who took not a moment to breath, but a moment in which they could both check their email and rush off a note to someone, somewhere. Maybe it was about those poor fish fighting for their lives in the oil slicks in the Gulf. I didn’t ask. I’m not one to strike up conversation in the gym. Usually because I have my headset on, listening to my iPod. But maybe that will change soon as I have declared headsets off limits during this diet. Yes, even my exercise will be without distraction.
Because what I am getting most from this detox, is that all of this multi tasking takes us away from being with us. Doing two or three things at a time is energy draining. We are not present for anything when we stop midstream to answer a cell phone or check an email as if it might be President Obama himself or George Clooney and if we don’t respond immediately our chance for a meeting will be lost forever.
As my personal research indicates this technological overload is reaching epidemic proportions. The WSJ supports that. They ran an article yesterday on Why Relaxing is Hard Work because we are so wired to other places and things. This was my favorite quote from Edward Creagan, a medical oncologist who writes a blog for the Mayo Clinic on stress.
“We’re driving ourselves wacko with no time to power down.”
Dr. Creagan suggested limiting your access to an hour at a time and he didn’t even consult with me! Great minds think alike.
My newspaper meanderings also learned from the New York Times that Rawanda , a dirt poor nation has a national health plan. Turns out mosquitoes are more attracted to men than women, and Starbucks is offering free Wi-Fi access so now you can go have a coffee in a public place, stay longer, but be so involved in your laptop that you might not notice if Lady Gaga sat down next to you. More encouragement from business to not be with you.
I was sorry to learn that the CEO of Sara Lee, 56 year old Brenda Barnes is on a leave of absence due to a stroke. I was even sorrier when the better part of a half page article in the WSJ discussed only how this would affect the company and the shareholders and nothing to the causes of her illness or her prognosis. But hey, that’s Corporate America for you. I just hope the stress of her electronic tethers to her job did not contribute to her illness.
As a side note this happens to be my 200th post.
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