I Tried Living Like a Monk for a Week — Here’s What Surprised Me

Day 1: From Notifications to Silence

I didn’t think turning off my phone would feel like cutting off a limb.

It was 7:00 AM on a Sunday when I began my “monk week.” No phone. No TV. No music. No caffeine. Just silence, routine, and the terrifying sound of my own thoughts. I had always admired the discipline of monks — their calm presence, their detachment from materialism — but I never imagined how much noise I had been living in until I sat in total silence for 10 minutes… and almost quit.

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Why I Did This

Life had started to feel robotic. Wake up. Scroll. Rush. Eat. Scroll. Sleep. Repeat.

Even meditation apps felt more like tasks than transformation. I needed to reset — not just my schedule, but my mind. So I decided to live like a monk. Simple food. Simple clothes. No digital life. Just me, nature, a notebook, and raw stillness.

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The Monk Rules I Followed

• Woke up at 4:30 AM daily

• Meditated

for 1 hour (morning and evening)

• Ate two simple vegetarian meals

• No electronics, no sugar, no talking unless necessary

• Spent 2 hours daily in reflection/journaling

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Day 3: The Inner War

By day three, I started to notice something strange — my brain was screaming. Not literally, of course. But the constant need to do something was louder than ever. I wanted to clean, scroll, text someone — anything to escape stillness.

But I didn’t.

And in that restraint… I noticed something.

My mind was full of junk.

Worries I didn’t know I had. Regrets I never faced. Dreams I forgot.

The silence wasn’t peaceful — it was powerful. It brought things out I’d buried under distraction.

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Day 5: Unexpected Freedom

I used to think freedom was doing whatever you want. But for the first time, I realized:

Freedom is peace with doing nothing.

My body felt lighter. My focus was sharper. I could hear birds outside — and I actually listened. Time slowed down. And even though I wasn’t doing much, I felt present. Not stuck in the past, not rushing the future — just here.

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Day 7: The Shift

By the end of the week, I had:

• Slept better than I had in years

• Felt more gratitude for small things (like warm tea)

• Learned how often I react instead of reflect

• Realized how addicted I was to digital noise

But the biggest less

on?

Silence speaks. But you have to stop shouting to hear it.

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What Surprised Me the Most

I thought monk life would be boring. Instead, it was the most alive I’ve felt in years.

I didn’t want to leave that peace behind. And while I couldn’t live like a monk forever — I could definitely bring parts of it with me:

• Waking up early (still hard, still worth it)

• Eating simple, being mindful

• Replacing scrolling with stillness — even if just 10 minutes a day

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Final Thoughts

Living like a monk for a week didn’t turn me into Buddha. But it did remind me how far we’ve drifted from ourselves.

If you ever feel overwhelmed, uncentered, or just disconnected — try silence. Try simplicity. Try a few monk habits. You don’t need a monastery. Just a decision.

Because maybe… the real noise isn’t outside. It’s inside us.

And maybe the answer isn’t more doing.

It’s less.