My Online Detox - 2.0

I've been away from the online writing world for nine whole days. It felt like an eternity, and I missed it because it's part of my normal writing routine. 

Nine days is a long time, and the world has moved on. News reels have come and gone, trends have started and died. 

For me, I'm still catching up on my emails.

The reason for my enforced online break, is that I needed to focus on my MFA thesis in writing. My "turning in" deadline was earlier today, and I had to focus on getting all my research and citations into one place. 

An MFA in writing is tough to do while working full time, but I'm determined and I enjoy being busy. I've had to travel to college after work and attend classes twice a week with many library visits and deadlines in between. 

I'm not kidding when I say that, these last seven months of thesis work have been hard. 

Have you ever had to turn down the volume on all the noise to finish a project or a deadline? 

Have you tried being off-line for a day - or longer?

How did it feel?

Our world is completely reliant on the internet. I use it every day with my students for all subjects from math to art to English and history in elementary school. 

The internet is a fantastic resource and I can show my students and bring the world to them through videos and facts. We were learning about the frozen polar regions and about the animals that live there. My students have never seen a real penguin, but I could show them a video of how they walk, swim and look after their babies. 

For the past nine days, I've focused every minute that I wasn't teaching at my school, on my MFA thesis. My kids have had daddy time more than me this week, and for that - I feel guilty.

Yes, guilty because the way I see it, my kids always come first. I'm usually the one driving them places, and organizing everything. 

These past nine days, I drew up a daily chore page for my kids to pitch in at home. I gave them more chores than they normally do.

Do you know what happened? 

Well, as I live and breathe, my kids enjoyed doing more round the house. They saw mommy study, and did everything I asked of them; from pairing their socks and clothes into piles, to loading the dish washer.

Kids are resilient and I underestimated them. I know the novelty of having responsibility won't last, but I'm enjoying it while I can.

My husband has also stepped up and kept the kids busy. He made us his legendary Mac&Cheese twice. We've relied on our friends to help out on some school runs. 

I usually do everything.

During my nine days "off line," my phone still beeped and my watch still buzzed with every message and news alerts because I forgot to pause them.

I was tempted to check every single time, but I kept on with my work.

It paid off.

I turned in my thesis a day early. Now, I have the nail biting wait until I find out my grade. 

So, today I'm celebrating and feeling a proud because I've completed another degree. I've achieved a postgraduate MFA degree while working full time and keeping my family together. 

I'm back to normal again today, and it feels great. My steps are a little lighter and I'm sort of still in the cloud nine euphoria for having finished a huge project. 

How did you feel after completing your project / deadline? 

Bet you felt great - awesome even.

My name is Lizzy. I'm a trauma survivor, a wife, a mom, a teacher, and an author.

If you like reading my posts, then please follow me.

For more about me: www.elizabethwoodsauthor.com

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Here are a few links to my articles:

Looking for a Change?

https://medium.com/activated-thinker/looking-for-a-change-f391e85abbd7

A Search for Identity

https://medium.com/beyond-lines/a-search-for-identity-893df7c970c2

Are You Searching for Peace?

https://medium.com/illumination/are-you-searching-for-peace-cd54d76231c8

Are You Dealing With Burnout?

https://medium.com/illumination/are-you-dealing-with-burnout-374f774141b4