Tuesday, February 19, 2019

Unplug and Recharge

Maybe it's just me, but I truly believe we all need time to unplug and recharge. We live in a day and age where we are constantly connected (although research is showing that even with being more "virtually connected" more and more of us are feeling less connected and more alone and isolated than ever) and sometimes we just need to PULL THE PLUG!

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This past weekend I spent volunteering for our church's 11th and 12th grade ministry, cooking meals for 200+ students at a camp in Bakersfield. There were 8 of us on the "kitchen crew" and we worked from before sun-up until well after sunset every day. I have worked weddings, bar mitzvahs, large parties, etc before and this was like putting on a special event three times a day. To say we were all tuckered out and spent by the end of it would be quite the understatement. 

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With that said, we had all of about 43 seconds a day to be on our phones or social media. Normally, as I'm sure you've noticed, social media is my jam. I love checking in on what everyone is doing, offering encouragement, supporting my friends, not to mention sharing about what's going on in my corner of the world. Starting Thursday afternoon till yesterday afternoon I was almost completely unplugged from that realm (#RealTalk - it wasn't a spiritual reason, the lack of time along with not having wireless access {and a limited data plan} were the main factors contributing to the disconnect). 

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And, you know what?! I didn't feel stressed out about it or feel like I was missing out on anything at all. I'm sorry if that sounds like I don't really care about what you are doing - that is totally not it - but being the hands and feet of Jesus was my only priority this weekend. Sure, folks could say we were "only" making meals, but they very well may have played a role in some students' salvation and eternity! I mean, maybe because they were well fed (food cooked with smiles and love) they were able to hear the message more clearly and accept Jesus into their hearts. We will never know on this side of heaven, but I pray the impact of our service will be felt for longer than just a few minutes after each meal. 

Three best friends and five student volunteers! #TheBestKitchenCrew

Hopefully I haven't lost all of you, thinking this is either some drive-by guilting or just a bunch of "Jesus junk". I wanted to say that even though we were working like dogs, I felt refreshed and energized at the end of it and I truly believe it was because I had time away from my phone, away from the rat race of trying to show a "perfect world" in a square little picture and because I felt as though I was working for a bigger purpose. Don't get me wrong, the work was rough (and I have already told my friend I am not planning on helping in the future ;)), but it helped point out that even though I absolutely love being plugged into the social media world, sometimes you need to unplug and recharge. 

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And even though I've been back for about 24 hours, I have yet to open the majority of my apps. I don't know how long that'll last (ha, truthfully, after I hit PUBLISH on this post I'll probably open up my Instagram to share the link, so the break may only last a few more minutes), but maybe this will be the nudge I need to put down my phone and truly engage. 

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Now, I'm not normally one who is "doing it for the 'gram" {the hubby and I truly already try to live our lives so we do things that make us forget to pick up our phones}, but I want to live more intentionally. I want to remove the pressure of trying to stay up-to-date on every single social media platform, I want to do things that are genuinely fulfilling, I want to keep my phone put away when I'm with friends (even if that means we don't have the ability to Google an answer to something immediately), I want to take photos for the purpose of preserving the memory and not just sharing it with the world, I want to unplug and recharge on a regular basis (not only when I'm forced into it because of lack of time/ connectivity).

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This past weekend may have started out with me disconnecting because I didn't really have another option, but I hope that moving forward it serves as an example of what my heart and soul truly craves, desires and literally NEEDS - more relationship, less mindless scrolling, more intentionality, less superficiality, more impact, less wasting time, more hugs and smiles, less double taps and retweets. We are in this life together so we need to actually be IN THIS LIFE together!

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When was the last time you intentionally unplugged from social media?

1 comment:

Sarah N said...

Thank you for sharing this! I needed the reminder to put the phone down and live more.