Further Unplugging Expatiation

Ann Litts , your wonderful advice about balance/moderation is exactly what I wanted to impart to my friend but I stopped myself short because I saw the process she was going through. She’s one of those Aries people who go from one extreme to another. She discovered that she was at one extreme end of a spectrum and for her it’s not natural to simply step into balance/moderation. Her way is to immediately go to the very opposite end of the spectrum and then, and only then, head towards moderation and balance.

I’m fairly hopeful that she will land in a more balanced state. She just really, really needed to go on that long walk. I go for nature walks every single solitary day and I’ve been preaching walking to her for at least a decade but my words have gone in one of her ears and out the other. Maybe her feet are finally listening.

She needed to vent so I let her vent instead of preaching to her. I think that for her the whole notion of “unplugging” actually is not just about technology. She’s thinking about unplugging on several levels.

I consider myself to be an extreme recluse but she makes me look like a party animal. She is a true reclusive, ascetic hermit living alone way out in the middle of nowhere. The only human (real face-to-face human) contact she has is when she drives to the nearest town to shop once a week. But she’s been like this for decades. It is only in the last few years that she has also become a recluse on the internet, which used to be her only social outlet. She closed the forum website she used to run and she quit interacting with people online. She merely prowls and absorbs. (She vehemently abhors Facebook. Something she and I have in common.)

While my friend would not be open to your wonderful advice, Ann, I think a lot of people would do well to listen to it. There are a lot of internet addicts out there who are losing touch with reality. I wish I could send your advice to everyone on the planet. But I guess everyone needs to discover balance in their own way.

I’m glad I listened to my friend’s rant. It wasn’t just for her sake but also for mine. It reminded me of my secret desire to unplug from both the internet and humankind as a whole and go live as a hermit in a cave somewhere. I’ve always thought that would be really cool. But I’m not ready for that yet. The idea of it, though, is very soothing and inspiring and it actually helps me to stay at least somewhat balanced. It’s a dream I hold close to my heart.

(Before I actually experience that dream, however, I will be exploring it through a series of books I’m working on. I like to try things out on paper (so to speak) first before I step into 3-D implementation.)

Thanks for the response.