Unplug

It is the last part of September, the first day of Autumn. It is almost the last 90 days of 2024. How are you feeling about that? If you are like me you feel like September has that New Year’s feeling. Maybe it is the start of the school year or the major change of season but it feels like a re-start or do-over month of sorts. It is a place from which to jump into the last quarter of the year.

This can be such a busy time of year. Most vacations have been taken and now it is nose to the grind stone as we head into all things Fall and into the holidays. What does all of this busyness do to you? Are you one who thrives on chaos? Are you more organized when you and all your people are dependent on a schedule? or are you frazzled with the stress?

One thing that can help with the stress of the “BER” months is to unplug occasionally or regularly if you are able. What does that mean? Unplugging can look like no phone for a set amount of time. No social media for a week. It can look like using no electronics for communicating after work hours. Or going intentionally through your day, noticing and appreciating your surroundings. It can look like being in nature and truly out of cell service range.

To unplug you need to know what you are plugged into. Is it Work. Social Media. Competition. Stressful situations of some kind. Busy. Busy. Busy. When you are plugged into something there is an energy exchange. Lots of times you are receiving good positive energy and you are giving an equal amount of energy. Sometimes we are plugged into things that completely sap our energy stores. Those are the situations from which we need to unplug.

In the last six months I started a stressful neuro unit nursing job at the local hospital. I previously worked on a neuro unit for years and I swore I wouldn’t do it again. The difference this go around is that I recognize how stressful it is and I am not willing to be sucked into the stress. I do my job while I am there and then I go home and don’t think about it when I’m not there. I have learned how to plug in and unplug. When I get into my Jeep at the end of a shift I throw the end of that cord right out the window.

Sometimes it takes a major shift to feel like you aren’t plugged into the stress, like going on vacation; or becoming unavailable to what it is that is stressful; or to purposefully putting yourself in a totally different scenario. Sometimes it takes saying NO and feeling no guilt about it; and yes, sometimes it take turning your phone off or getting off of social media.

I recently went on an overnight backpacking trip and spent a few extra days in the Tetons in Wyoming. I was unplugged from work, my phone (except taking pictures), politics, and every possible stressful thing. It was so nice. That was an extreme unplugging and re-energizing. But it is an example of how important it is to look up and out. To change the object of concentration. To appreciate. To have a yearning met.

Maybe you are up to your eyeballs in child care, cooking, cleaning, and family life. Maybe you are having your fill of work and deadlines. Maybe you are in a whirlwind and can’t take any actual substantial time away from your stress. This is when it is so important to learn what unplugging looks like for you. Do you need to just take five minutes to lock yourself in the bathroom alone, no phone. Do you need to sit quietly and concentrate on just breathing. Do you need to take a walk alone without your phone.

Whatever unplugging looks like for you, I hope you are able to accomplish it in this season. Because, after all, the reason to unplug is to be so much more energized when you plug yourself back in.