It’s been a hot minute since I’ve written! In the spirit of disconnecting, I’ve been taking some space from the blog and social media these past few weeks. During this time, I’ve been thinking a lot about the power of disconnecting. This has been a theme for me all year, but especially this summer – and today, we’re diving in to why. Read on for a deep dive into the power of disconnecting.

Taking time to disconnect is important, and it’s powerful. Especially in our digital world today, where everyone feels like they can be reached via a quick message, it’s so important to carve out time to disconnect. We all need to be able to create space for ourselves, and actually be unreachable for a little while. I’ve gone on a few camping trips this summer, and both times, it has been transformative to disconnect from the world and reconnect within nature. Doing so is one of my favourite ways to disconnect, and I am so grateful to live somewhere with easy access to nature.

When it feels like the world is falling apart, sometimes you need to disconnect from everything in order to reconnect with yourself. These feelings have definitely come up for me lately with some personal concerns, and have been a big part of the reason why I haven’t been blogging as much or on social media. Taking this break has been really powerful and allowed me to refocus on what truly matters. Disconnecting truly allows you to take a step back, reflect, and reset as you move forward. Reconnecting with yourself and getting back in alignment is so worth it!

One of the ways I disconnect on a regular basis is having all of my notifications on my phone turned off, apart from messages and calls. If something happens on social media, I don’t see it right away – only when I actually login to the app. This allows me to choose when I want to engage with it, rather than feeling the anxiety to respond to a notification right away. It seems like such a small thing, but it has actually had a really big impact on me. I’ve done this since COVID and there’s no way I’m going back! I definitely recommend testing this out, and seeing if this small step of unplugging has an impact on you.

Another great example of disconnecting was my writing weekend I recently had in Nelson. It truly felt like I needed to disconnect in a big way: by physically leaving where I was and going somewhere else to create some meaningful work on my book. It really did work and I was able to make so much progress! Of course, not all of us have the luxury to go away whenever we want, but the mindset of shaking up your environment can be applied anywhere. You can find ways to bring this in to your current world by visiting somewhere new, or someplace that doesn’t have internet access, to connect back in to your self.

Here are a few strategies for disconnecting in a meaningful way:

• Turn off notifications on your phone, or limit them to essential notifications only
• Have a digital or social media detox, where you go a full weekend (or week! or month!) without social media/digital check-ins – you could even take this a step further by having a phone-free weekend or week!
• Visit a new place such as a coffeeshop with no internet access or a park
• Take a weekend getaway to re-connect back in with yourself, or with others – with limited connection to the digital world
• Spend time in nature where the wifi can’t reach you
• Take a solo retreat to connect back in with yourself
• Create art – colour, paint, draw, write, you name it!

I strongly recommend using some of these strategies to disconnect. Embracing the power of disconnecting can truly be a transformative practice. Choose to disconnect to reconnect – to yourself, to others, to nature. Let me know in the comments what strategies you’ve tried and what has worked for you! Happy disconnecting!