24-Hour Tiny House Escape: A Slow Living Social Media Detox

I've never done this before. I don't know if I'm going to love it or hate it. All I know is that I feel excited and scared at the same time. I know now you'll never change your mind. For something that matters, matters to me. You do not know what I have in mind. I packed our bags, we'll be on our way. I find myself reaching for my phone way too often. And I was one of the people who tried to resist having a smartphone for as long as possible. I was in my 20s, the beginning of my 20s. I just started studying at the art academy when smartphones really became a thing. I was holding on to my old LG slide phone for as long as possible because I did not see the added value of it so much. And what I did see was how people changed. The environment changed as everybody slowly disappeared into their own bubble. All those open faces on the street, casual greetings and smiles, the feeling of people being accessible for a chat. It disappeared once everyone started having their heads hanging down to stare at their phones. I remember how depressing witnessing this change was to me, and it made me so angry at the smartphone that I resisted having one for years. But then the day came that I felt I couldn't stay behind anymore and that it would have benefits for me as well as I started my art business. And then my behaviors and habits started to change. And now I'm afraid of how my children will change once they're at an age that I can no longer keep them from having a smartphone for themselves. But that's enough now with all the worries. There is always light and there is always a different way. We can always hit the reset button and make different choices. I chose this cabin because it is very back to basic and it forces me to be present in order to take care of my basic needs like warmth. The only way to heat up this space is with this little wood stove and I never used one before on my own. The wood stove is dying on me again. I've never done this before. I've never heated a cabin all by myself with a wood burner. But this is exactly the reason why I wanted to do this. Because if you're always with someone, the thing is I'm getting too comfortable then. When I'm with somebody else and I don't know how something works, I will very quickly ask the other person if they know how it works, if they can help me figure it out, if we can do it together. It's just, well, I guess it's also just a social thing, right? It helps you to make conversation and connect with each other. But, oh god, please don't die. It's getting so cold and I need some warmth. Okay, maybe a little bit more paper. This should help in a minute. So the thing is, when you are forced to rely on yourself, you actually discover that you know and you can do so much more than you thought you could. I think giving yourself the gift to be alone, really alone every once in a while, and especially like this, being alone in a place I've never been before and having to do things I've never done before that challenge me in ways. Yeah, it's a form of self-love, I would say, because you're building trust in yourself that way. You actually get to figure out things yourself, especially if you turn off the smartphone and don't google the answers. I did not google how to actually get the wood burner. Oh, look at that. I did not google how to make this thing work. I want to figure it out by myself, just by trial and error and hopefully setting myself up for a warm night. Did I mention that I'm afraid of ladders? I picked the perfect cabin for me to grow over my weird fears. Oh my god, I'm sleeping up here and the only way down is a ladder. So this was a very interesting day. I really enjoyed the back to basic things. I enjoyed getting the fire to work and the wood burner and keeping the house warm in such a simple way. But also, yeah, in a way it's not simple at all. But the feeling you have when you physically have to do all those steps to get the fire going and instead of just telling the thermostat at home to heat up the house to a certain level of degree, it's just so different. The feeling is so different when you actually put wood into the wood burner and you have to do all these steps by yourself to get the house warm. It is so much more work and it costs so much more time, but it's also so much more satisfying. There's this little fan on top of the wood burner and the homeowner told me that when the wood burner heats up to 60 degrees Celsius, then the fan will turn itself on to spread the warmth throughout the cabin. And for so many hours, for so many hours, the fan didn't do anything because I couldn't get the fire to be big and hot enough, I guess. When it finally did, when I finally managed to make the fire as hot and lasting and the fan actually turned on, I was so excited. And that I managed to do that, yeah. So it's definitely a good feeling to figure things out by yourself and there's nothing wrong with asking someone for help, but there's also so much to gain when you try things first to figure them out for yourself instead of asking someone else or asking your phone. So I will try to sleep. Let's see how that goes. Good night. When I left this place, I decided to no longer use social media apps in the weekends. It might seem like a small start, but new habits need small steps to sustainably be incorporated into one's lifestyle. If we make changes too big and too radical, the temptation to fall back into our old habits gets bigger as well. At least that is how I feel it. I'm looking forward to using my phone less and being even more present with the people around me, with myself and with nature. Look how beautiful this planet is. I love to hear your experiences in the comments. Don't forget to subscribe so we can have a talk again soon. Have a lovely day.