Day 15: Stop, Breathe, and Be
Welcome to Day 15—and week 3!—of the February Phone Breakup. Last week we focused on making changes to our phones and physical environments to help us establish better boundaries with our phones.
This week, we’re going to focus on strengthening our (likely atrophied) “muscles of attention.” If you’ve been feeling scattered and unable to focus recently, this week should help!
Today’s assignment is simple: three times today, I want you to stop, breathe, and be.
This is exactly what it sounds like: you pause, you take a deep breath, and you take a moment to simply be present.
I’d love for you to try to do Stop, Breathe, and Be at least 3 times a day for the remainder of our time together. To make this easier, write “Stop, Breathe, and Be” on a post-it, and put it on your computer or your mirror.
“My body is tense, especially in my chest. It’s okay to let myself have this moment to breathe.” —Emily
“One of the buds on my orchid blossomed. I didn’t notice until now.” —Dara
If you’d like, jot down what you’ve observed, and tell us about your experience and observations in the comments.
To scrolling less, living more, and giving ourselves a chance to breathe,
PS:
As always, you can ask me and your fellow participants questions—and share observations and insights with each other— by leaving a comment.
You can also send me questions privately simply by responding to your daily email, but I encourage you to engage with the community; you may be surprised to discover that other people are struggling with the same thing!
If you leave a comment on the blog, please be sure to check back — I read through every comment, and try to respond to each one! (And other people often chime in, too.)
Remember! This weekend, from Friday to Saturday night (2/20-2/21), I’ll be inviting you to take a full 24-hour break from your phone. Please make sure that this is in your calendar – and I also recommend inviting a friend to do it with you. (You may even want to make a plan right now for something fun to do together on Saturday.) I know this idea is probably making you anxious. But trust me: you’ll be grateful you did it.
How to Leave a Comment/Join the Conversation
If you want to start a new thread/conversation, simply type your comment into the big white comment box below.
If you’re trying to respond to a previous commenter, or add a comment to a thread, simply tap the small “reply” circle on the top right of the post (if you’re on a computer, you may need to hover your mouse over the comment to get the “reply” option to show up) and reply in the thread. This will help keep our conversations organized.
You do not need to log in or create an account in order to comment. Simply enter your first name, ignore the other fields, and then submit the comment as a guest.
Catherine will be popping in once a day to read through and respond to your comments. You may also hear from other members of the team, Maryana and Laura, who are helping with logistics.