Cabin Life (Mostly) Unplugged

Every time I visit our family cabin in North Carolina, I feel the need to write about it.

And every time I’m here, especially over the winter break, I forget just how much I’ve simply needed to unplug.

As an online college instructor you’re essentially ‘on call,’ even on weekends, which is fine by me since I love working from home at my own pace. However, as someone who has a presence on social media (like most other people), I stay connected even when I’m not working.

It’s easy to forget that it wasn’t always this way. Our careers and personal lives haven’t always been intertwined; it’s a fairly recent phenomenon that has snuck up on us during the last decade when technology has somehow become all-consuming.

I don’t have a solid opinion about our use of technology. I sometimes love it and sometimes hate  it, like everyone else. It’s different and new, exciting and helpful, destructive and fun, and both a productive and unproductive use of time.

But here in the cabin it’s different.

Up on this mountain technology is spotty at best, we chop wood to use for heat, we talk to each other (without the usual companionship of our smartphones), we sleep in, and we slow down.

I could easily get bored if this was my life year-round, but once or twice a year it’s a welcome change of pace, especially without my usual online teaching responsibilities. Each time I begrudgingly remove myself from my reliance on technology, bringing the creature comforts with me to the mountains: the laptop, phone, and iPad.

Which I don’t use once I get here.

Writing this blog post was the hardest thing I’ve done all day, because it meant opening my laptop. I’ve eaten a leisurely breakfast, hiked, carried wood inside the house, and read a book.

Just what you’d expect from a vacation in the mountains.

I encourage you to take a reprieve from your usual routine, from the reliance on technology, and from the fast pace of life, especially during the holiday season.

Happy living, and happy relaxing :).