Away from Social Life.
I was thinking to be away from internet for only 14 days during finalizing my stuff of whole year but then I have to go on 61 days of holidays . These holidays were not from blogging and internet but it happened. Before these 61 days I never thought that I can be away from my online life for that long.
I opened my email just once during these days and then decided not to do so again. When I started doing that and decided firmly to stay away. During start I found it very hard , but then I felt much relaxed and fresh.
I was thinking as if I am away of cage and heavy chains. I experienced life to its fullest , I learned about people around me , I had some good and some sad moments, in short, I experienced different colors of life. I experienced that mind is free and you get many ideas, I was amazed to see everything that I managed to complete during vacation from social media. I have drafted so many blog posts that I will post soon. I believe that it is better to take social media vacation. I am not alone in telling you this , if you open surveys by different sites than you will see a lot of people take social media vacation. Some leave it complete because of privacy issues. In short it was a good decision.
I experienced joy by being so close to nature. I enjoyed cool breeze and chirping of birds. Fruits from trees straight in my plate, enjoyed Ramadan and Eid and finally some family functions.
I visited a lot of places around, some with boiling waters in river and some old building with frightening
stories. Visited some cities for the first time , saw very nice architecture of buildings and masjids (mosques) . I also stitch a lot of cloths for my daughter , to let her know , how much I love her. I interacted with lot of people and came to know many of their problems that I never thought about. I also experienced electricity failure not for hours or days but for weeks. Thanks God our solar panels helped us survive in that time :) . Enjoyed rainy season of one part and hottest weather in other part. This difference of weather amazed me.
I will surely write about different places I have visited and share pictures of my beautiful Kashmir. I hope to see it again and again. I enjoyed best time of my life that I will never forget. I met my whole family after seven years. I was offline from my social life but I believe I was more social by being offline.
In short I really lived in these two months , had wonderful experiences. The memories are enough for years to come, to keep me smiling. I will miss Kashmir and all its places with natural beauty and above all, my family. Now I know why people in past before this technological development lived longer and healthier life.
We know that its life and we have to move on....
So I am back to normal life.
Ready and ambitious for next year to come , with hope and pray that it will be one of best years.
Hello Anna,
ReplyDeleteYour comments challenge me to break away from technology and social media a bit more. It was nice reading of your experiences with family, as well as hearing about places I've never visited. So glad you've returned refreshed and filled with new thoughts.
Hello Kate
DeleteYes why not, it will give u a lot of relief. Believe me my eyes are also relaxed as I kept them away from screen.
Its easy give it a try you will enjoy break.
Thank you for your time.
I understand the feeling of freedom from the ball and chain of the internet. I do appreciate the internet and appreciate it more when I give myself periods of that freedom.
ReplyDeleteKashmir I hear is a beautiful place. I would love to go there sometime. There must be something about my looks that people ask me often where I am from originally. I ask, "If you were to guess, where do you think?" I've heard Spain, Italy, Russia, Egypt, France, etc. When I heard Kashmir, I said, "But my skin is too light." I was told it didn't matter. I was and am still intrigued and puzzled. :-) Thanks for sharing.
Hello Ramona
DeleteInternet is just like a chain, from which we have no freedom :)
About your looks if someone tells you that u seems to be Kashmiri then they are 100% right. I will some day send u pic of my mom and you will see why people say u this.
Thank you for your time and I really enjoyed your post a lot.
I will look forward to hear from you again.
I love "There is Real Life behind Every Social Life". Your post certainly shows that. It is something we should remember, whether we take a short few hour break or a couple of months break from the Internet.
ReplyDeleteHello Donna
DeleteThis is human nature that we are bore with monotony so just to change mood we must get out of our screens ( TV, Laptop, Phone) and go in real world, that can give us much more ideas as well.
Thank you.
Hi Anna - I'm so glad you enjoyed your holiday and feel refreshed by it. It is always good to take a break from what we think of as the norm as just relax - nothing better than family and nature. Having said that, I am glad that you are back now - missed you.
ReplyDeleteLenie
Hello Lenie
DeleteI also missed all of you.
Thank you so much for your concern , it means a lot to me. Surely I am so relax and tried to enjoy my holidays to its fullest :) . Will share pictures of green Kashmir soon.
Wow! I don't know if I could actually do this! Great job...such courage! I am so looking forward to hearing all of the stories...the tech free stories...the real life stories:) And I would love to photos of beautiful Kashmir!
ReplyDeleteHello Jacquline
DeleteI will soon upload photos of Kashmir. This was very big decision from me this time as when I go on holidays I do same there but this time I thought for a change. This is bit dangerous too as I got very nice job offer , coz of being away from net I could not check my emails at right time and when I reached back they started called me to join them , but I do not feel it good, at the start of semester, to resign and join in other place , so this was something bad about this as well :'( ..... Still I have chance but due to chaotic condition of Pakistan I do not want to go back and stuck there.
It's hard to do what you did, but I so applaud you and appreciate the meaning behind the title. I will echo what others have said. I very much look forward to what you will share regarding your "real life" adventures and our pictures. :-)
ReplyDeleteHello Susan
DeleteI will upload pictures soon , I will unpack my stuff take out my cameras and will do so. From the time I am back I am so lazy as feel so tired because of extensive travel that I did this time.
Hopefully you will enjoy pictures from Kashmir and I have some amazing stories to tell about some places.
61 days! I'm impressed. Two days and I'm on edge.
ReplyDeleteHello Ken
DeleteYes I did tried hard and was successful having a long time.
61 days of being unplugged! Wow! It was interesting to read about it. And now you have lots of material to share!
ReplyDeleteI have not written much but have a lot of ideas in my mind and lot of pictures to share. I will share and hopefully you will enjoy. Thank a lot for your time , I really appreciate that.
DeleteGlad you enjoyed your time away. I make a point to try to stay unplugged every weekend. I feel so much better when I do. Social media is great, but it can never compare to the here and now of life being lived in real time.
ReplyDeleteYes you are right Jeri.
DeleteI have really enjoyed my vacation and it is really a good habit, I will also try to stay away once a week , I have not even thought of this. Great IDEA!
Thank you
You are so right in that sometimes we need a break from being on-line. I must admit, I look forward to your stories from vacation.
ReplyDeleteHello Christina
DeleteI will try to share as soon my post that I have drafted will be finished then gradually I will upload pictures from Kashmir.
Thank you.
Hey Anna, your absence was felt. I will be looking forward to your stories and pictures from the travels. Great fete you achieved by not being online that long as I have not tried that but I need to also at some point. Good to have you back.
ReplyDeleteHello Welli
DeleteThank you so much.
I will share with soon. I am confident you will enjoy all pictures. I have experienced many things and feeling , I have drafted some posts and hope you will enjoy stories from Holidays.
Hi Anna. Stopping by from Bloggers Helping Bloggers. It sounds like your time away was very therapeutic. Like many comments above, I feel that unplugging from technology is necessary for peace of mind. It's like you come out of the break with a fresh lens on life.
ReplyDeleteHello Tatia
DeleteThanks for stopping by.
Staying away from social media for some time really relaxes you. Peace in life really comes if we try to be closer to nature. If we see people in history before this technological development , they lived longer and happier life.
Welcome back and glad you had a great holiday if it was without electricity for a while. I absolutely love Kashmir and spent a long while in Srinagar in the late 90's. It was beautiful even if dangerous. Such a gorgeous part of the world.
ReplyDeleteHello Tim
DeleteThank you . This was biggest power break of my life. As we were using solar panels from few years so those panels helped us a lot to survive in heat :) .
We also worked as Charging House for many surrounding homes. All were charging batteries at our home.
Yes because of your extensive travelling, It did not surprise me that you have visited Kashmir and I am happy to know that you loved it too. Now many things have changed a lot over the years. I hope so you will visit again soon.
Anna, Nice to know you are rejuvenated after vacation. Will come abck to see what you are going to write about...
ReplyDeleteHello Bindu
DeleteThanks for visit. I will share stories of my travel soon.
Presumably you are back in KSA? Thought you were moving back to Kashmir, but that doesn't seem to be the case.:-)
ReplyDeleteYes, I was planning to move to Kashmir asap but due to some personal reasons I could not do so this time.
DeleteStill trying to,lets see what happens. As I want to take my daughter back there for admission in school.
Anna- Welcome back. It is great that you were able to refuel. We will all be here from you to hear of your experiences and I am sure you pick up new friends. We all allowed to take time off for ourselves.
ReplyDeleteThank you Arleen
DeleteNot only I picked new friends but also relations because of my sister's wedding. I will share a lot of good and some sad stories with all of you.