Digital detoxes + decluttering my life

What I've been up to over the last month

Hello friends! I know it has been a minute since I’ve posted on here but I’ve spent the last month doing something I haven’t done in a really long time; absolutely nothing. Well, not exactly. Just absolutely nothing online.

I’m currently in between jobs, so I took this rare opportunity to completely switch off from the digital space and disconnect with the world in general. At first, I felt extremely guilty about not being productive or filling up my days with work, but I soon realised that this time was a gift that was giving me something I haven’t had in a long time - the chance to just be.

My days have looked a lot like not getting out of bed, LA home vlogs on YouTube (I’m obsessed with old Spanish architecture), walks in the forest, cleaning out thousands of unread emails, getting blood tests done (something I have somehow neglected for years!?), catching up with friends and family, lots of tears (will get to that in second), donating a good portion of my wardrobe and plenty of afternoon naps.

It has been a really nice break and definitely not something I have taken for granted, but one thing I wasn’t quite prepared for is just how tired and emotional I felt once I finally stopped. When we’re not constantly filling our mind with endless scrolling for micro dopamine hits and work for works sake, it creates this space/time gap that forces us to fill it up in other ways instead. I had every intention of doing so many more creative or holistic things, but for the last few weeks, this time off seemed to absolutely drain me.

Maybe I’ll talk about it more in depth one day, but to put a long story short, life has been far from easy over the last few years. My fiancé is only just starting to recover after 5 years of chronic illness, and my work/entrepreneurial life has been tumultuous to say the least. This time off has truly been the biggest gift that has allowed me to to finally get off autopilot and take a really hard look at the trajectory of my life and where I want it to go. I always thought I wanted to run my own business, but getting quiet has made me to realise that is not something I want for myself anymore (a hard truth to accept when it has been something I’ve been working towards for years!) I see myself now as a creative that loves projects, and what I’ve been pursuing doesn’t fit into the way I best operate in the slightest. I truly don’t think I would have seen that if it wasn’t for taking the time out to allow myself to do nothing, and it makes me wonder just how many of us are pursuing or working towards things that aren’t actually what we want or making us happy?

I feel excited to get back into my weekly edits (as of next week!) but for now, I wanted to share a couple of things that I’ve come across lately that I’ve found really interesting and sort of mirror everything I’ve been thinking and feeling during this time off:

AdMission Podcast
This podcast episode was recommended by Zara from Shameless Media, and is a really interesting listen if you want to learn more about the current zeitgeist around technology and how it is having an impact on global brands. They discuss recent ads from both Bumble and Apple and why they backfired, and talk about old school practices like analogue phones and run clubs being back on the rise. This episode essentially echoes the sentiment of what I think we’re all feeling as a collective.

One Sec
I’ve been really into watching Morgan Riddle’s YouTube channel lately (if you don’t know who she is - she is my favourite YouTuber at the moment! Not only is she insanely beautiful, but she has a really great energy and is so well spoken. Also, the BTS of her life as a tennis WAG is so much fun to watch). In one of her most recent videos, she speaks about feeling heavy and needing time off digitally, even though her career is essentially being an influencer and travelling the world. The app she recommended that is helping her cope with this is called One Sec. Basically, it is a shortcut you install on your phone so whenever you open Instagram or TikTok, it redirects you to their app, makes you breathe in for 3 seconds and then asks if you really want to open Instagram, or if you want to close the app instead. It has been SO good at breaking the habit of just scrolling for scrolling sake and I highly recommend it!!

This YouTube video
I don’t know if it was my algorithm just doing it’s thing, but this YouTube video from a Gen Z YouTuber named Tadeo really hit the nail on the head regarding the importance of taking digital breaks. It’s only 5 minutes long, but he articulated everything I have been personally thinking and feeling lately perfectly. Worth the watch!

I’m also currently trialing deleting social media apps from Mon-Fri and only getting it back on the weekends when I’m usually busy anyway. This way it still allows me to see the highlights of what I missed for the week, and get my fix in without going overboard! Will let you know how this goes.

Astrology newsletters
This one is a little out there and not for everyone, but I have found that since subscribing to Alice from Astrology with Alice and Danielle from The Cosmic Latte’s newsletters, I have gained a deeper, I guess a more ‘unexplainable’ context into why certain global events are happening, including the technological revolution we are currently experiencing. Aside from collective insights, these newsletters have also been an amazing tool that have helped me better understand sudden personal shifts in my thoughts and feelings towards things like work as I mentioned earlier. I wanted to share this excerpt from one of Danielle’s most recent newsletters that I was mind blown to read after I had just come to the same realisation myself:

There are so many things that sound free-spirited and liberating, such as living a nomadic lifestyle or starting your own business, that actually makes you feel constricted. Maybe traveling all the time sounds freeing, but you find that you’re more comfortable taking creative risks when you have a stable foundation beneath you. Or, maybe you actually achieve more time freedom working a 9-to-5 because you can maintain work-life balance and mentally clock out, rather than working 24/7 on your startup. You could find that freelance work or aligning to an existing business or organization can land you in a liberating position.

Both of these women are such amazing writers and if you’re interested in astrology, I highly recommend subscribing to both of these newsletters!

I’m curious to know if it’s just me or if we’re all experiencing similar shifts? Let me know if any of this resonated with you in the comments!

Alexa x

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