Don’t we all miss those days when our lives were really lived, shared and experienced in real time? Although we would admit all of this, yet we won’t really let go of this unhealthy attachment to technologically enabled life. A life where the mental mayhem is only on the rise. With so much information available about everything and everybody, you are only left with lesser and lesser retaining power of the things that actually matter. You tend to become misaligned from your center. Although I won’t defy the need for staying updated and connected in these changing times, but it helps to re-align yourself once in a while. Just like a physical detox, mental and digital detox are increasingly getting more and more imperative to be implemented.
What better than travel to a place where absence of wi-fi networks and electricity makes it pretty much impossible to connect with the world. Life miraculously continues. I am no different when it comes to getting misaligned due to the fast paced life. I was very certain about what I wanted to do for my “me” time in order to get my acts straight. This was my biggest motivation to disconnect! Hence, I packed my bag and left for the most memorable, beautiful and adventurous place, which is also popularly known as the spiritual land where people often times go for peace and reach a state of tranquility. I recently went road-tripping to Ladakh, a region in Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir that extends from the Kunlun mountain range to the Great Himalayas to the south, inhabited by people of Indo-Aryan and Tibetan descent. The place had barely any electricity and it’s zero internet connectivity made it even more remote and as disconnected.
This trip of a lifetime offered the best possible un-plugging opportunity from the world in many ways than one, where I couldn’t have asked for more! A few understandings I brought back with me from the beautiful barrens of Ladakh forever ,which I would happily name as benefits of this detox:

• You can know more about yourself .e.g. I am more adventurous than I had thought
• Your general curiosity about the world increases
• Perception of beauty changes – Barren can be so beautiful!
• Quality time with yourself can be astouding
• You learn to set intention to an activity
• You reconnect to your core desires
• Significant improvement in your mental alertness
• Re-aligns your focus to important matters

If vacation isn’t an option for you, there are a few other ways that make for great times to un-plug:

• Weekend – Go away for a weekend, where there is limited to no internet and electricity, you’ll be forced to conserve battery for only very important calls and emails. This obviously would mean more time to connect with yourself and the environment.

• Morning – It’s a great idea to keep your mobile phones in your drawing room. This keeps you away from checking it first thing in the morning and gives you more time to feel the freshness of the morning air. Even 10 mins of this extra time can boost your energy.

• Afternoon – At mid time of the day, sometimes energy and productivity levels can drop at their lowest. Why not take that 10 mins of your time to step outside from the office and detox your brain? This is keeps brain fatigue at bay leaving you more focused and boosts your memory.

These are just a few ways that come to my mind, but I am sure each one of us can define our own “me” time in the best way it suits us. So start planning your mental detox with all the resources available with you. Make the most of it and you are sure to move towards a happier, healthier, creative, thoughtful and productive life.
– Riddhi Shah I Digital Marketing Manager, Ashnik

Passionate about Content Marketing, Riddhi looks after innovative content marketing strategies through the digital platforms at Ashnik for SEA and India. She aims at continuously working towards taking Ashnik to the next level by increasing it’s brand awareness with a focal goal of generating interests around open source technologies.