Things I did last week instead of scrolling on my phone
Spend a week of travel with me, featuring balance, nature, good food and some unexpected twists and turns.
I often dream of spending a whole week in a small cabin overlooking a beautiful lake, where my tasks are simply to cook, read, write and exist. I was recently made aware that there is a whole term for it. It’s called a ‘think week’. Pretty fascinating, right?
When I read about other writers’ think weeks - filled with a sense of warmth and cosiness, I can see how such an arrangement could bring an influx of creativity into their lives. So I thought, “Why not turn my upcoming trip to the west coast of India into a ‘think week’?”
Little did I know that I was about to experience the most chaotic travel day of my life to date to start this week.
I sat in the plane for take-off, only to be told that my destination’s runway had been closed due to extreme weather conditions. My flight was now indefinitely delayed. After hours (no exaggeration here!) of discussions with cabin crew and co-passengers about how the airline should refund our money or if the flight would ever take off, I decided to deboard the plane. What an ironic start to a week where I intended to erase the chaos and embrace calm.
At that moment, I knew if I gave another shot to this trip, I need to go with the flow. One day later, I was back at the airport at 5 am to catch a flight to a place where my only plan was to somehow invite creativity back into my life.
As I recall my week, I realise I did not have much time to sit and think in silence, except for this exact moment when I wrote these words (it was day 3!). But I did a great job on the existing part. It wasn’t a typical ‘think week’, but it made me appreciate the importance of life outside a cell phone. This was probably the least amount of time I had spent on my phone in 2024. It was worth it.
Little practices that nurtured my soul in the last few days;
Living without a wall clock. It nudges you to live in the present. Last week, whenever I sat down to do something, I had no deadlines. I sat for hours watching TV one night after dinner, read my book for more time than usual on another night and wrote one of the longest newsletters I have ever written. All because I was deeply immersed in most things I did.
Reading in silence. Sitting with a coffee and a book in a cosy little corner was how my mornings looked last weekend. I did struggle to focus solely on reading the book, but that is the beauty of slowing down. It is a non-linear path so you don’t have to be perfect.
Eating without consuming content. It’s been a while since I did this, but I intend to do it more often. A wholesome conversation is always better than an episode of a TV show you are currently watching.
Surrounding myself with nature. Every second I spent near the ocean, I was reminded that my existence was a tiny little speck in this vast universe. Sometimes, the things we worry about now have absolutely no significance in the future, but we don’t realise it unless we slow down and think. Being in nature allowed me to do just that.
Nurturing eternal connections. I met my best friend when we were three years old. We now live in different cities. We got to spend a whole day together at a place that wasn’t our hometown - the kind of stuff you see in movies and dream of experiencing at least once in your lifetime. We ate. We chatted. We laughed. We left almost teary-eyed.
Sometimes, letting go of the pressure to make things perfect and simply live in the moment is the smartest thing to do. Last week may not have been an ideal ‘think week’ like I had always dreamed of, but I was present. That’s all that mattered.
I got featured in
’s amazing initiative called LVN Stories last week. If you have made it to the end of this newsletter, you might as well give this a read. :)THIS WEEK’s RECOMMENDATIONS
I spent lots of time reading last week. Here are some posts on Substack that I enjoyed the reading the most.
Fall Feeling by
.Fav Five 🖐️ | Embracing rest without the guilt by
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How to Recognize When It’s Time to Shut Down and Reset by
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What a wonderful, though provoking post. Slowing down is always something I say I'm going to do and then other things creep in around the edges. Thanks for the reminder to keep at it and keep focused on oit.
"Sometimes, letting go of the pressure to make things perfect and simply live in the moment is the smartest thing to do."
Being in the present is a reminder that your life is more important than a swirling swell of thoughts of what we would have been and what would be. For once we let the mind relax a lit bit from constant spin of thoughts.