The latest installment in an occasional series: how I unplugged over the weekend.

Sometimes unplugging isn’t about resting. It’s about doing something completely different from what you usually do.

Not that resting might not be completely different from what you usually do.

I just mean your unplugging activities don’t have to be rest-oriented to be restorative.

Saturday…

For reasons unknown, I was motivated to do the major computer purge I’ve been putting off for ages.

Why Saturday? Who knows. It was just time.

• Because some programs were acting up and I knew my aging computer would run better if cleared some hard space.
• Because I had allowed things to get into such a state that it was getting really hard to find what I needed when I needed it.
• Because in looking for current things I kept running into old things and those reminders were becoming emotionally draining and keeping me stuck in the past.

I got really into it. Like, I experienced flow. While archiving. Go figure.

I was so into it I wasn’t even second-guessing what needed to be tossed. Talk about being ready.

Archive to disk.
Delete.
Delete.
Archive to disk.
Delete.
Delete.
Delete.
Archive to disk.
Delete.
Delete.

For – I don’t know if I am embarrassed or proud to say this – twelve hours. Thank goodness my sweetheart brought me Thai food somewhere in the middle of the marathon or I would have passed out.

When I was done I had removed about 15 GB of unneeded files and information from my machine. For those of us who can remember floppy disks (and even if you can’t) that’s a lot of information.

Now I really feel done with things I was finished with long ago. And so much lighter.

For someone who works out of her computer – it is my workspace almost as much as my office is – this has left me feeling as refreshed as if I had cleaned my office. In fact, it feels so good I’m now inspired to clean my office – which needs the same sort of update. Maybe next weekend…

Sunday…

Friends! Epiphanies! Brunch!

I’ve been meaning to have a post-holiday Epiphany party for a few years now. This year I did it.

It was a fairly spontaneous and improvisational thing. Which didn’t seem to hamper it’s success at all (a tricky concept for Planner Girl here). It was everything I hoped it would be and more.

And what could be better than having a bunch of fabulous women over for pancakes? And now I get to be the sacred keeper of the Epiphany Time Capsule – a very honored post.

About which all I really have to say is this: you know that group of friends, that couple, those neighbors you always say, “We should really get together soon.” about? Do it. Soon. As in: this coming weekend. Don’t plan it. Just do it.

Especially if you work virtually. Twitter, blogs, forums, online classrooms – love ‘em all. But they are no substitute for real live connections with people you can touch. (I once heard Jen Louden explain what happens in your brain when you do this and why you need it, but can no longer recall the details – just know it’s not my opinion, it’s science!)

The energy is completely different.
And it will refill your well in a way nothing else can.

But don’t do it to be all strategic about your self-care.
Do it because it will be fun. Really fun. As in: cannot-stop-laughing fun.

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My point – if I have one at all – is that you’d think I’d be exhausted after a marathon day of archiving following by hosting a party. But I’m not really. Okay, a maybe a little. But in a satisfying physical way, not a draining mental or emotional way. Because these completely-different activities had all this restorative energy built into them. They engaged me in a way other things would not have – and that gave my work-brain the break it needed. Refreshed, now I’m ready to get back to the work at hand.

• • • • •

What did you do to unplug this weekend?
What are the completely-different activities that refill your well?

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Related posts:

1. Lists (but not to-do lists).