mental-health

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Stepping Back

Many of us enjoy and strive to live by a simple lifestyle. It doesn’t mean it will be easier, but living with intention in life. Getting out and visiting the ‘Brick and Mortar’ stores, actually going to the market to get groceries, taking care of business in person, and having physical leisure time. Spending less time in front of a screen and getting back to spending more time outdoors, getting involved with community activities, sitting around the dinner table in the evenings and sharing a meal with the family.

Over the last several weeks, I have slowly removed myself from time on a device and removed the apps on my devices (cell phone). I started using the cell phone for what it was intended for, and nothing more unless I have to. While at work, keeping the phone in my bag and not in a pocket or where I can have it at hand. Instead, I give my job the time that they are paying me to do and stay focused on that job. If there is an emergency my kids know to call the company and have someone come and get me. Most companies do allow breaks and lunches, and that is the time to check for calls. It really feels good as I have become more relaxed, and doing more and using the devices as they were originally intended to be use.

Yes, it takes a little more effort, but it really feels good mentally and physically. Instead of over-use of the devices and burning out the brain, I now started picking up a book to read in my free time, keeping a journal and planner with me to keep notes and journal as I go through the day. Basically, functioning as we use to do before the day of every household having a computer or mobile phone.

Too many have lost the ability to know how to verbally communicate to one another, anymore.
We have become so dependent on modern computers to do most everything for us that we struggle in a lot of areas of life like reading, writing, spelling, mathematics, and problem solving. We have lost the ability to personally socialize, and get out and meet people. People are always in a hurry to get to and from, without a simple hello. I remember how nice it was to receive a letter and/or a card in the mail. Having a pen-pal and waiting for that response daily. It’s nice to have something real and tangible in your hand that you can go back to to look at and cherish those moments.

We have lost a lot of simple ways of life that has carried us through decades of joy… And it is real in the sense that it can be touched by the hand. We are so quick to support the eCommerce that our family started stores and smaller stores are closing their doors. Even strangers are picking out our groceries, and all we have to do is pick them up.

I have observed what is around us for a very long time, and have started taking back control in my life and not giving it up to online robots. No, we may not be able to get completely free of some online activity like work, but I am doing as much as I can to remove my footprint and do things in a real world sense. Having something to look forward to through the day as I go about the daily routine. It’s becoming a more dangerous world online as the robots become more sophisticated and learn more and more about the user. With all of this being said, my goal for the future is living life in the real-time as we talk about and hear, and spend less time online.

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The Way We Were

Have you ever just stopped and looked around or listen to the old stories of people that share what used to be? As I get younger, I often think about the young newspaper boy getting up early in the morning to make his newspaper route, building a community of neighbors watching out for each other and getting to know one another, being able to go to bed with the windows of the home open as you sleep, and the doors to your car and home unlocked. These were times of beauty, when you didn’t have to worry about uninvited guest walking through your door, young boys trying to earn a little spending money with a newspaper stand or bike, and people simply helping each other on there street. There was no fear or shame, just good ole conversation with a few laughs.

When I was a child and young adult, my family would gather together in one home for a meal. We would sit on the front porch swing that hung from the ceiling of the porch with our cousins or roll down the little hill of the front yard. My grandmother or aunt would drop the laundry down the laundry shoot from upstairs or in the kitchen and land in the basement where the laundry was done. We all would sit around the table to have our meals, talk about the day, and sometimes one of us kids would get into trouble. We were never allowed to talk back to our elders… There was a large paddle with our names on it!
No matter where we all met up, it was always at one house, and the same activities would take place. One of my uncles loved to get us kids in the kitchen and teach us how to cook different foods, or we all would sit in the backyard taking our turn to turn the handle on the manual ice cream maker… Oh, these were the days!! A lot of laughter shared!

My father was very much of an outdoors man, and it was bred into my brother and I as we were growing up. We didn’t take trips that only lasted a weekend or a holiday that lasted a week or two. We were gone at least a month at a time, traveling coast-to-coast, border-to-border and sometimes visiting Mexico and Canada.
We camped in Death Valley a month at a time and learned how to survive in the heat to getting stuck up in the mountains in four to five foot of snow, and burning blankets to make smoke signals to get help. We always travel in a small station wagon with 3 adults, seven children, and two dogs. It was a blast!!

When I sit on the front porch early morning or take a long drive these days, I am reminded of the joys that were share when I was growing up. Yes, there are material items and situations that makes us feel nostalgic, but more than anything it is more of what we did as a family. When my kids and grand-kids all gather today, I am reminded of the past, but more so in what is ahead for the future. Family is so important… Stories of the past can enrich the mind of the younger generations. And I call that a blessing.

Daily writing prompt
What makes you feel nostalgic?
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