Hello from Enlightenment

Actually, not. But I have to say, I did learn a coupla things.

So what did I do for a week without books, television, movies, the internet, or email? Not what I expected, to be honest. I played with my dogs. I sat on the sofa with my husband and listened to the radio. I went shopping for stuff for the house, including more paint chips. I took a nap every single day. I made funny connections between the names of the paint chips. I took a road trip with my girlfriends. I returned stuff I'd bought to the stores. I argued back with a rude service person, and didn't feel all that bad about it. I journaled a LOT, and I did end up doing all those exercises I normally can't find time for.

I have to confess that I did "cheat" a couple of times. I found a video tape of my all-time favorite love story, which I watched, then had to read a couple chapters of the book. (But it's li-tra-choor, so I'm not going to count it.) I also spent an evening sipping tea and browsing decorating magazines for ideas for our bedroom, and I skimmed a hilarious little book about the benefits of hedonism. Since both are about adding beauty and pleasure to one's life, I'm not counting that as cheating, either. And I actually skipped watching two television programs I had planned to see, so it's gotta balance out in the long run.

Suprisingly, I was not bored. I didn't miss the television; I didn't even miss my blog! I realized that, for me, compulsively flipping through seventy channels is waaaay more boring than poking around my house, waiting for water to boil. I realized that I could stay connected with the people who matter without being electronically available twenty-four hours per day. I know, it's shocking, they actually got by without reading a new post from me every single day! Their worlds did not fall apart!!

Neither did mine. And that's a darn good thing to realize, because sometimes I feel responsible for entertaining the world. That's how I "earn my keep", so to speak; being funny and kind and offering help in a crises. But that's really how I keep my distance, if I'm perfectly honest with myself. Having a week's worth of personal time uncluttered by external entertainments forced me to examine a lot of my stuff, and I think it's going to force me to make a few changes.

For starters, I'm going to worry less about "perfection" in these little posts, and have more fun with them. My apologies, in advance, to anyone besides myself who might have expected that. : )

Thanks for missing me, I'm glad to be back!