New Year: No Phone

I’m not really the biggest advocate of New Year’s resolutions because I think that you should be in charge of your life and self improving every day of the year, but here is something cool that you may want to consider trying, if you’re into that sort of thing.

New Year: No Phone

Let me start by saying I am a phone JUNKIE. My phone may as well have been super glued to my hand with how bad I was, honestly. It was the trials and tribulations of 2016 pushed me to new extremes, as I travelled Europe and only worked off of wifi hotspots. Before you color me insane, at least hear me out first:

At first…

Life consisted of running from uni to my flat as quickly as possible as to not miss a moment of online time. I found myself constantly trying to log on to whatever was available to me because I was scared to miss out on things #majorFOMO

But then…

I realized that I was missing things because I was doing that. I put my phone away and began to invest more time and energy into the people around me instead. No longer did my coffee dates consist of browsing the instagram together  (“can you believe what she was wearing???”). I struggled, relapsed, and struggled some more, but I was finding that it was worth it.

AND THEN…

I quit my phone almost all together. I carved out time at night to talk to my family and friends once I went home for the day. Basically the only time my phone was in use was to take pictures of my adventures and make plans with my friends.

So now…

Not only have I become more resourceful, but I have become more present. My relationships are stronger, I am less distracted, and I have a more positive outlook.

As it turns out…

You don’t need your phone in the way that you think. Maybe 2017 is the time for you to discover what life before cell phones had internet and snapchat was really like, because the more you’re trying to catch up with everyone else’s lives, you end up missing out on you own.