Summer Unplugged (mostly)

When my husband and I were first married, I was thrilled to have my first grown-up home in which to to decorate, organize, and set up housekeeping. But one thing I noticed pretty early on was that there was a particular drawer in our kitchen which seemed to collect junk. It frustrated me until I finally determined that we would NOT have a junk drawer in our kitchen. I took measures to keep each kitchen drawer organized and free of nick-nacks, doo-dads, papers, and mail.

A place for everything, and everything in its place!

And you know what? It worked!

Well, so I thought.

I proudly believed I’d accomplished that goal until I one day opened a drawer in our bedroom dresser to find….JUNK! Nick-nacks, doo-dads, papers, and mail! The problem I believed I’d conquered in the kitchen had just quietly and inconspicuously transferred to another place in the house. Sneaky, right?

Fast forward several years into our parenting. Joel and I started to examine our family’s television consumption (and I do mean consumption!) in regards to time and content. Long story short, we prayerfully came to a conclusion about where t.v. would fit into our family goals and schedule. When we looked at what the long term goals were for our family, television took a back seat to many other activities and disciplines that would help accomplish those goals. Now, I’m not saying we didn’t watch television at all. In fact, we really enjoy t.v.! But we learned to keep it in it’s place.

A place for everything, and everything in it’s place.

And it worked!

I mean, that t.v. was only turned on a couple of times a week, and only for parent-approved DVD’s, and only during it’s scheduled time slots.

But…much like that junk drawer that resurfaced in another room of my house, the t.v. problem also manifested itself in new form.

A different kind of screen, but a screen, no less.

I got up from my computer one day and noticed how much time had passed while I’d been sitting there reading emails and blogs. ‘Wow! Really? I’ve been sitting here for that long? Hmm, well, I’ll keep better track next time’, I thought to myself.

But I didn’t. I would snack and nibble on my bread of idleness off the plates computer and phone, and would be completely unaware of the minutes slipping away. Minutes I couldn’t get back for better things—things of eternal value.  Now I don’t mean that I spent hours on end at the computer, but a minute here and there would quickly become 15 or 20, and that adds up in a day. (And this was before I even had any kind of social media!)

I began to notice I was more irritable and discontent. I noticed my kids were frustrated with me. What was the cause of this? I prayed. God answered.

“It’s those screens positioned between yourself and the real life I gave you”. 

 So I made some changes to curb my appetite and cut way back. As with television, I do still use and enjoy screen time on my phone and computer. I do need those screens for communicating, schooling, researching, shopping, blogging, and banking. But I know it’s place in my life, where to schedule it in my day, and when it’s time to take a good long break (or even a little break) when I’m veering off track with it.

As last school year came to a close, I’d been in prayer about my summer break and how God would have me use it. There are always plenty of projects for my hands to accomplish while I’m not homeschooling during the summer, and I was wondering how I’d get it all done and still make time for fun activities with my kids.

Then in early June, I read a newsletter from a seasoned homeschool mom whose writings have encouraged me through my homeschooling years. She spoke of being intentional with the summer break in order reach maximum productivity and feel satisfied with where we would start the new school year at the end of the summer. I considered any distractions that would hold me back from that desired productivity. I’d recently read The Tech-Wise Family  (can’t recommend that book enough!!!) and immediately knew that at least one of those distractions would be screens. I clicked off that newsletter and logged into my Instagram account to give my “farewell for the summer”!

Done. Mama went unplugged.

I put screens back in their place and set some new summer guidelines for myself. I deactivated my Instagram account for the summer, and only checked Facebook when I got an email notification about a friend battling cancer. (Facebook is visually unsettling to me and too much to sort through, so its not much of a temptation for me anyway.) I put additional restrictions on myself for other phone use as well—emails, texting, etc.—especially when I was with people, outside in God’s nature, or working on a task.

And you know what? It worked! And this time, I mean it really did work! I got more accomplished on my summer to-do list than I thought I would, plus LOTS of memories made with my children! Win-win!

One day, as my summer Instagram fast came to a close and I reactivated my account, I posted a special milestone photo for my son. I was so surprised at how much time it took that day just following up on comments and private messages. All very good stuff!! But after having spent no time on social media for a couple of months, I realized just how much time it takes out of the day to keep up with it. I had plans to make a separate IG account just for my blog this fall, but if I do, I’ll definitely have to set some serious boundaries for myself. 

Soooo, (and if you’re still with me, bless you!) I actually wrote most of this post at the beginning of summer when I first made the changes, but then decided to save it and finish it after summer break to be able to report what a difference it might have made in my summer. And what a difference it did make! In my upcoming posts I’ll be sharing all that got accomplished on our “summer bucket list” and “summer project list” after going unplugged. 

But what I’d most like to share with you now is that my friend who was battling cancer that I checked Facebook for throughout the summer is now cancer free!!!! Praise to God!

Have a great day, friends! And by the way, I do still have a junk drawer in my kitchen!