Is Life Getting to Be Too Much?

When I was nineteen, I worked in a bar for a couple of years. Think Cheers, but we had better characters. I started before lunch and went to closing. This meant 11 am to 4 am, with a few hours break in the afternoon. Saturday night I got to leave at 2 am.

It was some of the best times of my youth. And the stories I could tell (Hey, there’s an idea!). But bar food, the smell of stale beer and cigarettes, loud jukebox music, (No Bohemian Rhapsody again, please), drunken laughter, and spending the day in a gloomy room could drive you crazy.

So, early on, I learned to unplug. In those days, bars weren’t open on Sunday. That was my day. I would spend all day outside in the sun in the quietest place I could find. At least once a month, I left the bar at 2 am and drove into the mountains to go camping or backpacking. When I got back to work on Monday, everything was completely flushed out and I was ready to face the regulars again.

And that was before cellphones. Before the Internet. Before texting, Twitter and selfies, oh my.

In today’s world, we are plugged in and turned on all day every day. Things that happen on the other side of the world are in our feed instantly. We are bombarded by everything, all the time. Every conversation begins with, “Hey, did you see…” whatever is trending at that particular nanosecond.

I think sanity is being redefined. I don’t know what or where. I’ll check my Twitter feed until I find an expert on the subject.

It can all be overwhelming.

Scratch that. It is overwhelming. Constantly. So what do you do? Unplug it.

When we were much younger and starting out in our careers, we discovered cruising. Back then, it was a little different, but not too much. The major difference was, on the ship, there was no internet; no email. And phone calls cost about $10,000 a minute. If you were on a ship, you were unplugged. Those were some of the most relaxing and refreshing vacations we ever took.

Today, it’s a little tougher. You can’t escape it. You can be in a yak-driven wagon in Nepal, and there will be a little placard with the wi-fi password.

You can’t escape, but you can unplug.

And you have to. It will keep you sane. Or at least slow your roll a little.

You don’t have to go live on a deserted island, although that’s not a terrible idea. I know you’re busy. We’re all busy. So unplug in small increments. Build up to longer periods. Schedule them until they become part of your day. Part of your life.

I wrote another article where I described how twenty seconds changed my life. Check it out. But it talks about taking a minute, or less, three times an hour to unplug. Unfocus your eyes and your mind, do some deep breathing and stretch.

That one thing has literally changed my life.

Several times a day schedule a quick walk. Ten minutes is fine. But leave your devices behind. If you are in an office, find a corridor somewhere you can walk around for a bit. Preferably on a different floor than the one you work on. Outside is better. Breathe. Stretch. Unplug.

Once a day, plan a longer break. If you have a regular exercise routine this is it, but again, unplugged. Sitting on the bike reading Facebook is not exercising and it’s not unplugging. Leave the phone back in the office or in the car. Find an old mp3 player for your tunes.

If you haven’t been exercising regularly, you really need to start. It’s not about getting fit, although that’s a benefit. It’s about getting away. Focusing on something else for a while. Concentrate on your weightlifting or your pace on the bike. A walk or run outside is the best. Stop and smell the roses. Literally.

One weekend a month, unplug. Devices off. Check phone messages once or twice a day if you absolutely have to. You probably don’t. No texting, no internet, no TV. Travel back into an ancient world. Like the ’70s. Unplug. Read. Walk. Talk face to face with actual humans.

It will be tough at first. You will probably have to work up to it. But trust me. This will be a life-altering experience. Once you master it, you will never go back.

I probably named this article wrong. It was a rhetorical question. But life isn’t getting to be too much, life is too much.

Remember that old Ally Sheedy movie, “Short Circuit,” with the annoying robot? “Input,” it was always screaming. Well, you got your wish, buddy.

Input. We have too much input. Ctrl-Alt-Del. Clear your cache. Delete your cookies. Reboot. Unplug.

You will be better for it.

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