You. Must. Chill.

All right, this week has been crazy scary busy for me. One thing after another and deadlines and freakiness and…like that.

So tonight, I’m passing along a message that I used to tell my college-aged students when I was teaching. It was kind of a challenge I issued to them, if only because them crazy youngsters come out of the womb with electrical, not umbilical cords. I’d tell them this:

Be Amish for a week. Or at least a weekend (no disrespect at all to Amish people).

That is, unplug. Turn off your TV and computers. All your electronic devices. Leave your phone at home. Don’t drive anywhere. Or, better yet, do drive somewhere out of reach, like a cabin in the middle of nowhere with no internet connection and no TV.

Learn how to be with yourself, without the distractions of electronic devices that so many people today seem to define themselves either with or as. You are an individual, and healthy individuals need to spend time alone, without distractions, without obsessively checking email or text messaging. Get off the information superhighway and reconnect with your immediate surroundings, your family, your neighborhood.

And make this a habit. At least 1-2 evenings a week be tech-free (Amish). And extend it. You don’t need the constant mind-numbing bombardment of information, or the corporate-driven consumer drivel that makes you think you need things you really don’t. Turn it off. Build a community, build a true revolution that emphasizes individuals working in tangent with other unique individuals to oppose the brainless prattle that passes for “news” and “information” these days. Go to a library and read. Spend time with yourself, and spend face-time with people, rather than interacting via text and email.

Reconnect with nature. You need balance in your life, and being constantly plugged in to something techie is robbing you of real, sensory experiences.

So try it. Be Amish for a while. It could change your life.

Happy living!