Good luck!

This is such a healthy exercise! I tore myself from my laptop last month and spent 15 days off line. Funny thing, I agonized about whether I could do it or not for weeks before our vacation. Then when it actually happened I didn’t miss it one bit! It probably helped that I actually left my house, the usual site of my on-line activity (not to say abuse), but I don’t know. Have fun with the family and congratulations on your very healthy ‘techy’ limit setting!

Good luck, Therese! I’m going to try it as well…on a smaller scale.

Hi Therese,
I just did that for two weeks and it was so rejuvenating. Just returned today. It was a wonderful break for me.
Have fun and make every day a “Be good to me day!” Enjoy deciding what that means.
Congratulations for recognizing how much we bloggers need that rest and refreshing. I hope you love your time off and thoroughly revel in your personal life and all those you adore and who adore you.
Cheers from a fan and fellow traveller who subscribes to you and reads you religiously. I will miss you even more!
All the best,
Sandy Naiman

Wow. That’s brave. At one point in my life, I used to wheel my 19 inch TV on the Walmart cart into the closet for weeks at a time. It was great. Now I’m richer, in electronics. I don’t know if I could unhook from the net. Great post.

Good luck! I couldn’t do that. But I’ve been turning the computer off when I get home from work (after I’ve checked e-mail & read a couple of blogs & news sites, of course). Now I’m inspired to do this regularly.
As an aside to this topic, I’ve discovered that twitter, facebook, etc., has now made e-mailing seem too slow, like the U.S. mail has become. Two people this week told me they no longer have time to keep up with e-mailing their friends because they’re too busy spending time on facebook. The good thing about e-mail was that it had sort of brought back letter writing. I found I’d become close once again to people in my life I’d previously just heard from at Christmas time. You know, friends and relatives who don’t live nearby. So I’m stunned that now they won’t write e-mails anymore. “Sorry you haven’t heard from me in months–I’ve been too busy with facebook.”
All this fast-food social networking has made some of us starved for communication.

This is a good decision and one you won’t regret. Go in the peace of
the Lord and come back restored and refreshed. We all need time to
renew our spirits without feeling guilty. You give of yourself all
the day long and that is a good thing for all of us, your family and
your friends. But in order to do that you need to renew your own spirit from time to time. Being a fellow Catholic I hope that you can
visit the Lord during this hiatus in a special way e.g. going to Him
in Adoration, daily Mass, etc. And in just the ways that only you know are beneficial to you in restoring you soul. We love you and will pray for you during this special time. Retreat means just that
Time to treat Theresa to all that her soul thirsts for…God bless!

This is a good decision and one you won’t regret. Go in the peace of
the Lord and come back restored and refreshed. We all need time to
renew our spirits without feeling guilty. You give of yourself all
the day long and that is a good thing for all of us, your family and
your friends. But in order to do that you need to renew your own spirit from time to time. Being a fellow Catholic I hope that you can
visit the Lord during this hiatus in a special way e.g. going to Him
in Adoration, daily Mass, etc. And in just the ways that only you know are beneficial to you in restoring you soul. We love you and will pray for you during this special time. Retreat means just that
Time to treat Theresa to all that her soul thirsts for…God bless!

I hope it is all you need.

Thank-you for sharing this – I have decided today that I need to do the same when I am at home and shut off the tv and the computer – I am hoping that I will make better use of my time !

Smart Woman !!!
I’ve chosen not to do facebook and twitter…I liken it to standing naked in front of the world. No one in the world has the right to know what I’m thinking and doing each moment of the day.
” Be still and know that I am God ”
Blessings,

Hi Therese;
I am a faithful reader of your blog. Just want to say dont blame technology for your problems(Technology is good).
jean Paul

I find thath in hard times that leaning on the true and living GOD it helps me in all of my situations. Even though some people don’t believe as I do I know that there is a God because he lives in me. The changes that I have made in my live shows me this because I could not have did this on my on. In alot of ways we all believe in something good or bad.

Therese I am so happy for you that you are going to do this. You will feel like a new person afterwards, I am sure! Have a restful, peaceful 19 days! You deserve it! And thank you for all you do for us!

Now I understand why I’ve been so short with my dog for taking too long to relieve himself… You are absolutely right…”down time is critical to my recovery”. I think disconnecting from the world and connecting with God for a few days is exactly what we all need. Have a great and fulfilling 19 days!

My sentiments exactly!!! It’s too hot to DO anything anyway. So I also love a sabbactical in August. THANK YOU!! For validating my “hermit” time.
May you have BLESSED SLIENCE!
Ginger~

sabbatical and august for me are synonomous … I can let the dust
pile up and the laundry basket over-flow… it can wait but the time
to relax and refresh cannot..seize the moment!!!!!!!!!!! I liked
the quote on my Sarah Benbednath (Super Abundance)calandar that says:
“revel in relinquishment”!

yes i totatlly agree with you. i’ve been hearing about everyone problems and then I start thinking about old stuff that I thought I had forgotten about. leaving next week and also shutting down the factory.

My message was important to me for you! Sorry it was lost. Find you a room and cut the lights off to clear your mind. Everyone needs to vent their daily life and enjoy starting over with peace of mind. Close to what I had, but not quite! Hope this helps.

Oh yes…..how many times I’ve told my kids I went thru college with one phone(on the wall in the lobby of the dorm)that everyone shared, a bicycle, a manual typewriter, and a dictionary and a thesaurus (still can’t spell), and I ended up with a Master’s degree. The library is where we lived, and vinyl is what we listened to for solace when we got back to the dorm room. We thought we were overloaded but todays peoples are just plain nuts with all the “stuff” they thiink they need to exist. Go camping in a tent, primitive camping, take only what you need to exist,minimalize, eliminate,go light,and listen,see,look,learn.

Thank you so much for writing this Therese as I am leaving on Saturday for 2 weeks on vacation to the San Juan Islands and Canada with my entire family. I will have no internet there and my dog is having to stay behind as well. I love how you said, “I hear the secrets hidden in my soul that I can’t catch until I am perfectly still…” I plan to find some of those secrets while I am gone and let the time away be refreshing and new.
God bless you, Therese
Kathy Griffiths

good luck, you are a true inspiration.

If you haven’t read Gift of the Sea, by Ann Morrow Lindbergh, it’s a great read, especially when you’re “unplugged”!

Good for you Therese you deserve it and you are an inspiration to all of us as well as an Angel that God has sent to us who suffer with mental illness. Even Angels need to take a break and regroup I am sure. When things get that out of control everyone should consider regrouping and getting away from the Tech world in which we live in and spend time with ourselves and pamper also spend time in prayer and with our creator. You will come back refreshed I am sure. Enjoy and forget the Tech world it will be there when you return and then you will enjoy it more. Best of luck and I keep you in my prayers. In fact I am planning on getting away for a few days by myself to regroup and make some tough decsions i have been putting off and the laptop is not coming.
Leeann

Good luck, T. Relax, if possible. Attempt to relax if not possible.

How on earth will you hear quiet with a husband, kids, and pets (furry kids)? Thats why I have earphones on all the time. Good luck and let me know how you do it. I need to do this too, but dont want to kill my family since I can hear them.