So a long time ago, when I came up with this plan for a monthly focus each month for a year, I thought I’d go meatless for October.  And while I may still move that to a different month, I’ve decided to reduce my intake of something a lot more addictive and delicious, and detrimental: the interwebs.

Now, I’m not saying the online world is a bad place, but I saw these ads recently and they looked sadly familiar:

Yeah.
I wish they weren’t representative of me, but I kind of think they are.

So I’m going to set some stricter boundaries on my phone/internet/social media use.
I want to be present for the people around me. Really, actually present.
And while it doesn’t sound like that should be hard, I think it is.

SO here are my rules:
1. No phone at mealtime. Ever.  It can wait. No matter what it is. It can wait.
2. No checking phone while I’m in bed.  Not right away when I wake up, not when I’m going to sleep.
3. If I’m going somewhere with my little or my hubby, the phone either stays at home, or in my pocket (unless I’m taking a picture, or it’s an emergency).
4. If I’m talking to someone, my full attention on the conversation, unless they ask me to look something up or put something in a calendar.  If they come into my office, I close all windows and stop what I’m doing.

All of these focus on presence.  And I think, as much as it would be interesting to go meatless for awhile, I think the impact of my presence will be greater than my not eating meat.

I actually think #2 is going to be the hardest.  I have a tendency to wake up and grab my phone first thing, to check all the various social media outlets and emails, to see who texted after 9 (I have a do not disturb function that turns on at 9pm and off at 8am).  I get sucked into the black hole of posts and interesting emails and suddenly my morning becomes rushed instead of relaxing.

So there it is.  October is offline presence month.
Anyone want to try it with me?