Challenge #2

For the last two days, I have followed the bored and brilliant challenge #2: keeping devices out of reach.

This was a very interesting experience for me. With the weather being so nice (at least one of the days), there would be certain times I would make the deliberate choice to not bring my phone with me somewhere. This started as little things, like leaving it downstairs when I went upstairs and took a shower or leaving it in the other room while I did something else. It then escalated to me going on walks without it and driving to certain places and leaving my phone at home.

Something that changed for me was that I felt more anxious or that I had more expectation on me when my phone was closer to me. One of the days, it was rainy and I chose to spend it inside watching movies and working on a puzzle all day. When I had my phone closer to me, I felt like I couldn’t focus on the puzzle or the movie, I had to be on my phone responding to people or checking things.

With the various feelings I was having that were unexpected, this challenge became easier as time went on.

Five things I had never noticed before:

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1. In my neighborhood, there are gorgeous old houses with beautiful colors, and brick, and textures that I adore.
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2. I was walking on 16th and Laurel St. and you can see the campanile from that far away and it looks super cool.
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3. There was a lady on her bike that waved to me that my housemates have talked about, but I had never seen her before.
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4. I am really good at puzzles.
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5. The park that I have been going to since I was 14 years old has sand, I always thought it was wood chips. I am sure I had recognized that, but I remembered it with wood chips, and had never mentally noted that it was sand before.
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I am feeling very aware of my cellular usage following this challenge. I have definitely been trying to do less things with my cell phone in hand, and take steps away from it.