Turn off your computer. You can live without it. You might even find the experience enjoyable.
I'm a complete gadget-freak but I've found recently that if I'm on holiday I can relax far better without all the electronics of today. For the week I spent on the yacht, I didn't use a computer, I didn't watch TV and I didn't use my mobile (I had it with me for emergencies only). I didn't even wear my watch, something I normally feel naked without. The only contact with "civilisation" was the daily newspaper and Solent/Portland Coastguard. The only tech I used for the week was the VHF radio, the GPS plotter, and my camera. I didn't need or want anything I didn't have.
Rising with the sun, going to bed at dusk, eating when you get hungry, travelling where the wind and tide will take you, getting news when it's had time to be edited and analysed, contacting the outside world on your own terms. It's a much more natural, much less stressful way to live. A different world entirely and one I found very hard to leave.
Everyone says from time to time "Stop the world, I want to get off". Sailing along with the wind and tide behind us, no other boats to be seen, no disturbances from the radio was the closest I've come to achieving that goal and I enjoyed it so much I want to go back. |
