Let’s consider the humble act of restarting a device. Who hasn’t experienced this magical solution for untangling the biggest technological clusters we’ve managed to weave? While we’ve all benefited from amazing IT support, a solid first step in remedying confused electronics is powering off and back on again.
Given the uncontested effectiveness of the restart, how might we transfer its wisdom to our own lives?
The answer is as simple as spending time unplugged in nature. When we go beyond the bars of reception (or just ditch/turn off our devices), the absence of distractions allows us to reset our awareness.
If sauntering around without pinging notifications makes us anxious, that’s ok; those feelings of dependency are real and actually generated by our devices. But once we go outside and, instead of responding to distractions, fill those moments with landscapes, beauty, awe, fun relationships, and engaging activities, we can enjoy a solid reset.
When our machines get overwhelmed and shut down incorrectly, we get asked if we want to bring back the same tabs that were open when things crashed. To extend the metaphor, when we’re restarting, we can consider what elements of our attention we want to restore. If any of those previously open windows had been causing stress or anxiety, keep those closed. And since we know multitasking is a myth, maybe we can decide which ONE window deserves all our attention and restore it.
The point is, after a break, we don’t have to go back to things as they were or even feel like we have to catch up with things as they are. When we power back on, we can switch from how things were to how we want them to be.
If restarting sounds like what you need to keep running effectively, summer is a perfect time to try powering off. Also known as “vacation,” the longer days, warm temperatures, and potential for free time allow us to check our activity monitors and see which applications are using the most of our energy. From there, it’s just a matter of figuring out which ones we want to quit and what we want to do instead.
It's time to restart!