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I Took Email Off My Phone for a Weekend & This is What Happened

June 28, 2019June 28, 2019 Crystal // Dreams, etc. Post a comment
I Took Email Off My Phone for a Weekend & This is What Happened

Last weekend my sister rented a cabin in Wisconsin, so I went over to hang out with her family. My other sister and her family were there, too. I arrived on a Friday and still had a few items to cross off my to-do list for the week. I played with my nephew and after he went to bed I had some time to get that work done. Once I crossed everything off my list and responded to the remaining emails I did something I never do: I took email off my phone.

Okay, maybe never isn’t 100% accurate. There was a period of time where someone was stressing me out so I would take my email off of my phone at night and turn it on again in the morning. I needed to make sure his emails weren’t the first thing I saw when I checked my phone in the morning. And I took one email account off my phone when I went to Maine last fall. Other than that, the only time I’ve taken email off of my phone was a weekend that I spent with my niece and nephew when we watched all of the Harry Potter movies (yes, all of them) in a weekend. They spent a year reading the books and we had plans to celebrate Harry’s birthday with a movie marathon weekend, so I wanted to give them my full, undivided attention.

But still… this idea of taking email off of my phone always made me uncomfortable. Leading up to the weekend last year I let a few people know I wouldn’t respond until the following week. I also turned off text alerts for someone who I knew might take “no email” as “text instead.”

This time it was a spur of the moment decision. Cross the last item off my to-do list. Send one last email. Take email off phone.

And you know what happened?

Nothing.

Well, not nothing. I went on a boat ride and watched a bald eagle fish. I fought zombies. I tried to prevent disease from taking over the world. And failed. Numerous times. I read one of my favorite books.

And I felt so refreshed when I returned to work on Monday.

Are you like me? Is it hard to take email off of your phone? If you are, I encourage you to ask why. What is it about having your email on your phone that’s so important?

My reason: I like to be responsive and if I can respond quickly I like to be able to. But that doesn’t mean I always need to be responsive. In fact, always being responsive and not taking breaks will wear me down and make me less productive/not as efficient at what I do. I need a break.

And, if you’re like me, you need a break, too.

I know of people who have permanently removed email from their phone. I don’t anticipate ever making that decision; it’s really handy and convenient to be able to read and respond to emails on my phone and allows me to be productive during waiting periods when my phone is one of the few things I have with me.

But I’ll definitely take it off my phone more often.

WHAT ABOUT YOU? DO YOU GET EMAIL ON YOUR PHONE? WHY OR WHY NOT? DO YOU TAKE IT OFF AT TIMES?

About Crystal

About Crystal

Hi! I'm Crystal, a millennial learning how to live slowly and sustainably, while still seeking adventure and following my dreams, etc.

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hi!

I'm Crystal, the storyteller behind Dreams, etc. I'm all about learning how to live slowly & sustainably, while also seeking adventure as we follow our dreams, etc.

May 2023. Savannah, Georgia. Lots of Mina. Lots of May 2023. Savannah, Georgia. Lots of Mina. Lots of new growth on plants.
The other day I realized that there is no Savannah The other day I realized that there is no Savannah on my feed and…well, Savannah is beautiful and needs to be there. These were taken in Lafayette Square on my second day in Georgia.
Picture it. It’s the day after Thanksgiving. I d Picture it. It’s the day after Thanksgiving. I didn’t go on my weekly dam walk earlier in the week when I was excited about it. On this day I was tired after a long week and my least favorite holiday. My bed was oh so comfortable. I forced myself to roll out of bed and journey to the dam. It was filled with people and I was pokey…taking my time to get there and even journeying down one of the other paths to avoid walking across the dam. (Which isn’t long.) I finally joined the crowd and walked across. And then came back, happy to have made my weekly journey. This is when the top layer of the water started to freeze.
From March: an old mini vlog from a bagpipe rock c From March: an old mini vlog from a bagpipe rock concert, which is mostly me trying the say bagpipe rock. Some word combinations are hard! 😂 There was a sign asking us not to film, which is why there’s no concert footage.
Some of my weekly dam walks have been therapeutic Some of my weekly dam walks have been therapeutic and while the walks haven’t fixed the problems, they’ve help me breathe and connect with the world and relieve stress. 💕
April 2023. We got more snow, but it also melted. April 2023. We got more snow, but it also melted. The dam was almost overflowing. The animals are beginning to emerge. Spring is here!
Happy Independent Bookstore Day! After a coffee st Happy Independent Bookstore Day! After a coffee stop (of course) a friend and I checks out two indie bookstores that we have never been to before. I definitely want to go back to Uncle Hugo’s and Uncle Edgar’s! Did you do anything for #independentbookstoreday

#indiebookstore #indiebookshop
After watching some shopping ASMR videos I had to After watching some shopping ASMR videos I had to try it.

#asmr #groceryshopping #groceryshop  #asmrvideos
I’m a little behind in weekly dam walk reels. Le I’m a little behind in weekly dam walk reels. Let’s go back to the third week in November when there was just a little snow on the ground and the footprints in the snow seemed notable.
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