Photo by Micah Hallahan
A few weekends ago my boyfriend and I went to Gatlinburg for the weekend to celebrate our two year anniversary. Little did I know before packing my tiny, red, 2011 Toyota Yaris, that escaping from my responsibilities for 48 hours was exactly what I would need.
As we finally crossed the county line into Gatlinburg, our GPS told us to make a left hand turn at the next stop light. When we made the turn, we quickly realized that this road was going to lead us to our cabin that sat way up in the Smokey Mountains.
Nearly 25 minutes later, we arrived at our little cabin.
A tiny one bedroom, one bath, log cabin, with a tiny front porch and a tiny back deck and a view over the windy road that led further up the mountains, surrounded by trees. It was perfection.
Once we carried all of our stuff in from the car, we both checked our phones.
“Do you have any service?” Austen asked me.
“I sure don’t,” I answered.
“Perfect,” Austen replied.
The thought of being pretty high up in the Smokey Mountains four hours away from home with no cellphone service at all, made me extremely nervous at first.
“What if something happens to our parents while we are gone and they cannot get ahold of us?” I quickly thought to myself, but the more I thought about it, the more the feeling of relief started to wash over me.
Having no cellphone service for 48 hours was exactly what I needed.
I honestly could not tell you the last time my phone was not ringing off the hook. Between emails, group messages, text messages from my family and friends, social media notifications, etc.
I have come so accustomed to having my phone right by my side from the time I wake up to the time I go to sleep, and that is not healthy. In fact, I hate it.
For months I had been longing for a break from my phone and during that 48 hours that was exactly what I got.
What I learned from being away from my phone during those two days was that I need to make more time in my everyday life to detox from social media, emails, texts and phone calls.
It is okay to ignore a text or a phone call every once in a while, and it is even okay to turn your phone off every once in a while. The world will still go on without you even if you take some time to step away from your cellphone.
Sometimes putting your phone down to experience the little things in life that are happening around you at that very moment is exactly what you need to rejuvenate your soul.