Power outage 2 hours after the storm? Much needed.

Tonight, there was a power outage. I am typing this while in the outage because I am fortunate enough to have a computer that has an unbelievably long battery life.

At first I was frustrated because of no power, like any normal person would be. But if you know me, you know that I hate storms unless I am in my home which luckily I was at the time of the storm and even more, I hate being alone during storms which I am. The good news is that I randomly lit a candle in my room for some reason tonight and when I when I went back into my room after being out in the living room all evening was when the lights went out. It definitely would have been more freaky if I walked into my room and it was pitch black. I don't know what it is but there is something about storms, power outages, and the combination that I don't like. It's not the storm itself, I love rain and I love watching lightning. But I don't like it unless I am in my own home. Weird, I know. To make me weirder, every time I see lightning I count until the thunder to calculate how close it is to me.

Trying to accept this alone time and make the most of it is hard. Even past all my nerves. Embrace this time without television, without internet (yes, I am typing without internet and will post sometime after writing but will post it as the day I actually wrote it… if that's confusing, just ignore all that), and without light so I can't even read (all my flashlights are in the trunk of my car from "cliff golfing"). It's nice to have no distractions and be able to just sit down and thinking without media overload.

I am content without all these "extras" we have in everyday life. I hate that I have 3 email accounts to keep up with, Facebook, Twitter, Skype, and a cellphone. I am literally a button away from any one person in this entire world. Yes, they are nice conveniences and I take full advantage of them daily… but maybe I need to hit the breaker and turn everything off every once and a while. And I'm sure I'm not alone!

I am going to challenge myself to take 30 minutes everyday that I am not connected. That might seem like a little amount of time to some, and a catastrophic amount to others, but I challenge others to do the same. Take time and just sit there and think. Whether you need the time for yourself without interruptions or you need to start planning a quiet time and have failed to do so… Take time and the initiative. Maybe 30 minutes a week is enough for you, or maybe 3 hours a day is more like it, I don't care your number or frequency just try it!