Guest Post // Unplugged

Today I have for you an awesome post from Sammantha from Dysfunctional Every After. She submitted it & I instantly fell in love. I've often thought about 'unplugging' but haven't ever done it. In fact, I am scheduling a lot of posts for August because I am not sure when we'll have internet in our house/Zach's parents' house, etc. I hope you enjoy this awesome post!

Hey guys! I’m Sammantha from Dysfunctional Ever After – I’m going to spare you the giant, “could you be any less unique” introduction. You can hop over to my blog to get to know me better. Introductions and About Me’s are always so awkward to me. They are just like giant pats on your own back or high fiving yourself in public. “I’m Sammantha and I’m amazing, I’m Sammazing” (That is a legit nickname, by the way. Not to brag.) Anyways… I have a story and a mission for you. You down?

If you know the source of this image, please let us know!

I cannot imagine a world without the internet. Okay, that’s a lie. I can imagine it, and it’s as close to hell as I ever want to get. I grew up with a cell phone, computer and cable television like most twenty somethings living in America today. So to imagine living without any of these things is just kind of beyond me. Or at least it was, until three months ago.

Long story short: Our landlord cancelled the internet and cable right before we moved in, despite a contractual agreement. It’s worth saying that our landlord is not the most cerebral guy. (If you watch Real Housewives of Orange County, I hope you appreciate that reference.) What I’m trying to say is he really doesn’t have his stuff together. He is super nice; he just maybe shouldn’t be a landlord, that’s all.

Lucky for him, my husband and I were about a month away from our wedding when he told us this, so we didn’t have the time or the energy to fight him on it. Plus, we didn’t want to start off this relationship on a bad foot. Aren’t we sweet?

It has since been three months, and surprisingly we have yet to do anything about the situation. It just isn’t a priority for us right now. So, for the last three months we have not had internet or cable at our home.

Fortunately, we do have basic cable (CBS, ABC, NBC … and Bravo!). We also have spotty wifi once in a blue moon, but it is so spotty that it won’t even open up Gmail. Both of which force us to be much more intentional about what we watch, or what we attempt to do online (when the WiFi fairy comes, she comes for a couple brief minutes). If I need to do any hefty internet, I head over to Starbucks. It becomes a treat rather than something I am blindly dependent on.

I love it.  Living in what I like to call the “dark ages” forces me and my husband to communicate more, and not become so involved in our own little media bubbles. We go outside more and are eager to do more things together. The other day we just hung out and played Scrabble. (I kicked his ass by the way.)

Not only has it been good for us as a couple, but also better for me as an individual. I can’t tell you how many hours I can spend in front of the TV watching absolutely nothing. And internet surfing? Are you kidding me?  I could go on for days I’m sure, just mindlessly surfing around the internet or Netflix. But now I read, I talk to my friends, I journal, I go on walks. I’m a happier person. I feel free. I also feel like I’m getting a better sense of myself and who I am without even more media influence telling me who I should be and what I should look like. I mean, I’m still getting plenty, but it has made a difference.

So here is my challenge for you: Unplug from something for just a week while you are at home. Internet, cable, maybe even television in general, or phone. Maybe it’s your iPad. Just unplug from something for one week while you are home.  I know you can do it. It probably doesn’t sound that appealing but- it is only one week. Chances are you still have like 2000 weeks left of your life that you can spend plugged in.  

I can’t wait to hear from you guys on how this works for you. Or maybe you do already have a situation similar to mine, in which case I would love to hear about it!

(Special thanks to Moe, who is nothing but awesome. Thank you for letting me take over your blog for this post, you rock!)

Blog | Facebook | Twitter

While I hate & totally love this goal at the same time...we'll see what I am able to do while in Michigan.  maybe I'll unplug from one thing......just one thing.... :) :) Have a great Wednesday & head over to give Sammantha some looovvvee!