This perhaps might be the best blog I’ve ever written, or will ever write. You see, our internet service went out and my family doesn’t quite know what to do with themselves. My parents, who are in their 80s, handled the sudden outage quite well. Better than other members of the family. My mom pulled out the radio…remember those? She found a religious station, sat down, and enjoyed listening to her radio sermon. I was suddenly transported back to my childhood when my mom would have the kitchen radio blaring every morning. The radio show was 'Through The Bible' with J. Vernon McGee. My mom and I sat down; I had coffee and my mom had tea. We listened, talked, and reminisced. It was nice. My dad came downstairs and joined in. We were just your average American family in 2024, sitting around the radio and enjoying one another’s company.
As the radio show played, I looked over at my mom and saw her leaning back on the sofa, smiling as she gazed out the patio door at the birds while listening to the show. She was so peaceful as she took in her surroundings. It didn’t take her long to become fully engrossed in the natural human response of being truly present. Rather than being bombarded with visual images on the TV screen that have the potential to induce anxiety and fear, my mom trusted in good old muscle memory from her childhood, to allow her imagination to take her to a happy place that was clearly responsible for the smile I saw on her face.
The ability we had as children to find pleasure in something as simple as sitting underneath a flourishing tree, looking up at the leaves in motion, and letting our imaginations take us to the most amazing places, is something innate and innocent in all of us. Yet, it can easily become buried as we take on the responsibilities of adulthood. Jobs, marriage, babies, bills, and a daily dose of world news can slowly, or in some cases, quickly sneak in through the back door, and rob us of our ability to create meaningful moments. I was happy to witness this revival of stillness that took my mom down memory lane, if only for a moment.
Our nostalgic moment was interrupted by a flicker on the TV screen.
“Looks like the internet is back on”, my mother said in a curious tone. So she turned off the radio and put on the news. I can’t explain why, but I felt a bit annoyed by the return of the one-eyed monster. I mean, we were having a moment. A real, family moment where conversation was enough. Part of me was tempted to sneak into the living room, unplug the router, and announce, “Internet’s out again!” But instead, I let my parents enjoy their daily dose of the news and I went into the next room to write. Hence, this blog.
Are you old enough to remember life before Internet access? If so, was your life simpler back then? I thought about this as I sat down and started writing. As mentioned in this blog, not everyone in my family reacted well to the internet outage. I’m not going to lie. I found it humorous. I can recall my life before Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. My social media used to be crawling onto my bed with stacks of my favorite magazines, a bag of Cheetos, and a Coke. I was in heaven as I flipped through pages upon pages of magazines, daydreaming, and even ripping out images and pasting them onto a binder. I guess you could say it was my Dream Journal.
These days, I have caught myself spending countless minutes scrolling through Instagram. Instead of being motivated by the images, I’d become easily jealous of the person in the image, and of the life they were portraying. Self-judgement and depression would follow, and before I could talk some sense into my thick skull, I would have single-handedly, coveted someone else’s Ai generated, filtered, perfect, scripted life and scarfed down a bag of Oreos. Double stuffed…because otherwise, why bother? Anyway. I'm sure you can relate. If not, that's okay. I may occasionally camp here in Internet land, but I consciously choose not to live here. After forgiving myself for discounting my blessings, I’d usually grab a paintbrush, sketchpad, or writing pad and start creating. One of my absolute favorite magazines is Magnolia Journal and I still love to crawl onto my bed with a stack of magazines and daydream.
I guess that’s my biggest takeaway from today’s internet outage. It reminded me of how simple my life used to be and can still be. I don’t have to wait for the next outage, to welcome peace into my life, through moments of quiet, remembrance, and seeing where my imagination takes me. I can use the internet as just another source of information and entertainment while setting healthy limits on screen time. I can go outside, sit under a tree, and dream. Or, I can pull the plug on that router and dust off a board game. I hope I always remember that smile of contentment on my mom’s face when she tuned in to that radio station, sat back, and showed the world that she lived and enjoyed life before cable and the internet and that her life will continue to be rich and meaningful with or without it.
I hope my experience motivates you to spend less time scrolling or staring at that boob tube and more time in the garden, stargazing, or leaning back with a good book or magazine. I'm not naive that we live in an information-driven world. After all, you are reading this blog via the internet. I depend on the Internet to run my business and connect with subscribers and customers.
Still, our lives can become so inundated with work, deadlines, and emails that we can convince ourselves that we don't have time to stop and daydream. Yet, how will we ever know the power of our imagination if we never sit still long enough to engage our senses by walking barefoot outside and feeling the grass beneath our feet or the sun warming our shoulders? What if your next great business idea is waiting for you under that shady tree in your yard? It's just something to think about when you find yourself staring at the television or scrolling the Internet. I know I'll be thinking about it.
Sincerely,
Yoli
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