Last month one of my worst nightmares happened.. I completely smashed my iPhone screen. Thank God, I had learnt my lesson last year (my phone was stolen and had to buy a new one cash upfront) on how important it is to have your devices insured. What I didn't know is that I was going to be parting ways with my baby for 2 weeks whilst it got repaired. 2 WHOLE WEEKS! I know right? In this 2017... 2 whole entire weeks to repair a simple phone screen, yeah I don't have a reasonable explanation as to why that is either... 


During this period I had no replacement phone, no way of contacting anyone other than twitter DMs, or email (which are both very limited.. like how am I meant to have my vital daily gossip sessions with mum?). I hadn't set up Whatsapp Web and now I didn't have my phone it was too late to do so. Basically it's like I had fallen of the face of this earth. If I wanted to see my friends and hang out it was virtually impossible unless I turned up at their doorstep at reasonable time and hope for the best. 


Music was a myth.. I had no way of blocking out the world anymore and having mini raving sessions on the way to work or at the gym. You best believe I rummaged high and low for my old iPod Nano, and when I managed to find it, it was broken. That's when it really hit me.. I accepted my L. I accepted this new challenge. I accepted that in this period of time nothing was going to be the same.


I did a Throwback Thursday in my head back to the year 7 Miriam and tried to remember the things I used to love doing before I had a phone.. READING! I used to be a proper book fanatic, I lived in my local library and I would take out 10 books a time.. I read Jacqueline Wilson's entire book collection that year, and I would squeeze in reading time wherever I could. I would even fall asleep reading and read whilst I went to toilet; my books were basically the equivalent to what my phone is today. 


So I made it my mission to head down to my Swiss Cottage Library and pick out some books, I read an amazing book during my phone-less two weeks: 
"The Answer: How to take charge of your life & become the person you want to be"

This book was life changing for me and I would definitely recommend to anyone and everyone. After finishing this book it really hit me, that as a young graduate learning should never stop within an education institution, there is so much knowledge in books, and knowledge is power. Books are easily accessible, and very cheap on Amazon & eBay. If you're reading this and you haven't read in a while, I urge you to pick up a book; it doesn't even have to be non-fiction, you could pick up a fiction book and indulge yourself and read for pleasure.


I used to make a lot of excuses as to why I didn't read, the main one was time:
"I really wish I could but I'm so busy, I just don't have enough time"
Truth is you make time for what you want, and it is incredibly easy to read on your commute to work 5 days a week, instead of scrolling on Instagram for an hour before you go to sleep you could read for half an hour every night.


On the subject of time, during those 2 weeks I realised how much time I waste on my phone daily. Those 2 weeks were the most productive weeks I have had this year. There was not one day where I felt like I hadn't achieved everything I set it out to do. I was being efficient with my time and incredibly focused. I stopped feeling overwhelmed by everyday life and trying to find a solution to having too many things to do but not enough time. 

I was noticeably happier. Strangely it felt good to be unplugged and disconnected from the digital world. I felt more confident with myself and my life now that I wasn't spending majority of my spare time on social media, watching people live their fabricated 'perfect lives'. I finally unplugged myself and zoned back into real life. I always had this perspective that people in London were very unfriendly and slightly cold.. like they took #teammindmyownbusiness way to far. I was very wrong, during my two week period (with no music or headphones) I was busting out conversations with complete strangers on my commute, and had a ton of people giving me eye contact and genuine smiles. All of these things had never happened before because I was constantly disconnecting myself from the world by putting my headphones in and playing my music and doing xyz on my phone.


Overall what I am trying to say is do not be afraid to disconnect yourself from your phone and other digital devices. It's incredibly healthy for yourself, your soul, your state of mind and a good way to refresh; have some TRUE 'ME TIME' and really give back to yourself the way you deserve to. Maybe 2 weeks is a little bit too long but definitely try it for an entire day and see the difference. I promise, you'll be amazed by the results and you won't regret it!



Hope you enjoyed this post, let me know in the comments if you have had any similar experiences...