Following the 2010 earthquakes I spent most of my energy on keeping my head above water. My health has been a roller coaster and the topic of many blog posts. For the four winters following the earthquakes Riwai and I worked hard together to keep me mobile and well. Winter 2015 and my mobility was deteriorating and we were looking down the barrel of back surgery. Determined to not give in to another medical diagnosis, I reevaluated my balance. As adrenaline wore off from the intense 12 months of EQC repairs, buying our first rental property, setting up the studio and the office, I could feel the balance scales tipping in the wrong direction.   I felt like my own philosophies were all being followed but only just! What I do is so important to me and I certainly didn’t want to reach burnout or fall over completely! Time for a self audit…..

Lifestyle
Water ✔

  Nourishing ✔

Rest & Recovery…… Room for improvement

Exercise ✔
Appreciation ……. Room for improvement
Participation ……. Room for improvement

Even though I love what I do, love my businesses, staff and all my clients I wasn’t taking care of myself enough to get the rest I needed to balance my adrenal glands.
It was obvious there was a common theme – my digital distractions were invading my limited personal time! And it was all my fault! I was in control of the disruptions – I love what technology does for me but some days it felt like it was taking over my life. Newsfeeds, hashtags, ringtones, notifications, buzzing, likes, messages, tweets, emails, comments, vibrating – too many ways to get hold of me and I was constantly in reactive mode with my mind never switching off.

So I went on a digital detox – as you know I don’t believe in diets so I didn’t give up completely but I instead began managing my digital disruptions and introduced WOT (with out technology) moments. #wotmoment allow me to do things that nurture myself and make me smile. At home we have WOTevenings and some weekends we have #WOTweekends! I put my phone on airplane mode so I can still capture my memories but the disruptions are limited. By deliberately taking time for a #Wotmoment has led me to rediscover my love of gardening, notice my surroundings again, read books, bake, cook, go to movies, enjoy new foods, have find time for conversations with friends and family, appreciate magic moments and listen to my body to discover my balance!

I have discovered that technology is great to stay connected to those you care about but it’s not the only way. My life has far more interesting stories to share than just being bombarded with industry sponsored ads and businesses filling my newsfeed instead of the important people I want to catch up on. Now I balance my downtime by spending some time on Sunday’s reading the social media I choose, blogs, face book groups, catching up on friends updates and photo apps that are full of fun and beautiful people around the world!

So if you are feeling overwhelmed don’t switch off completely – make it work for you – I hope you pause today and acknowledge that technology is not going away and is fabulous if you manage it right! And it’s ok to be selfish, switch off and have a #wotmoment or three so you can have more energy for what you love! Will you join me? #wotmoment