After 60 hours of no (voluntary) human contact, I feel refreshed and calm. I did nearly have a breakdown about 17 hours in, but I worked through it, and I felt much better afterwards. I felt energized.
Although I had to break my rule of not talking to anyone by answering some important phone calls and making a visit to the doctor, I’m not disappointed because the point of this experiment was not to cut off all human communication, but to take a much-needed retreat and reevaluate certain things in my life.
So here’s what I learned:
- Life’s better when it’s slower.
- Sometimes it’s better to retreat within than to voice concerns.
- When you can’t find inspiration around you, visit your memories.
Maybe these are obvious, but they weren’t obvious for me, and though I didn’t get to write as much as I would’ve liked during this experiment, these realizations alone made it valuable. In fact, I think I’m going to set aside a time daily or weekly to do this, so I can escape obligations for just a little while and do a mental reset. Just like Sheldon and his locked room.
Old me: “I have to talk to someone about this!”
New me: “No you don’t. But you could write about it.”
