An Accidental Writing Sabbatical

The gift of a misplaced charger

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

I haven’t posted much lately. But this is for a peculiar reason. My wife and I went on vacation. I had intended to spend some time writing and catching up on correspondence.

However, when packing for said trip I left my computer charging cord behind. So in short order my aging MacBook was sleeping quietly, awaiting the kiss of electricity. (It remains asleep as my cord is in another city.)

Indeed, I like to write on paper. It’s just that over years and years of writing I have trained my brain to the keyboard. And my penmanship is well, not far from cuneiform, so future generations my struggle to grasp my brilliance…

I did repost some older material using my phone. But I’m really not a huge fan of writing on my phone. Maybe it’s my old eyes or clumsy fingers.

However, I had a remarkable discovery. I found that after a roughly two week sabbatical from my laptop, nothing in my life changed in any significant way.

Hard to believe, right? I always have tons of emails to answer, forms to fill out, things to look at for work. And yet life moves along happily. We slept, read, biked, ate, laughed and slept some more.

It has been remarked that technology, which we develop to serve us, becomes the thing we serve. As a traumatized servant of electronic medical records, I can attest to this truth. I am ever linked to computers, phone, verification programs and all the rest.

But perhaps we imbue all of this with too much power. All of our connectivity matters only so much was we allow it to matter.

Sometimes a period of not writing can be wonderful. It allows ideas to stew, to grow more concentrated from not being poured out more frequently. I have some things to say. Write now I’m using my work computer, which I rarely do, but I’ll be back on my game soon enough if all goes well.

I recommend taking a break now and then, fellow writers. And if that means you have to lose your charging cord, then have at it.

You’ll be amazed at how little it matters and simultaneously how much it can do for your mental health and creativity.