Low-tech Adulting

I’m busy working on a “teaching” project that’s pulling all my resources and trying to maintain balance in my life. I’m wondering, am I sleeping enough? Exercising enough? Eating and drinking what’s good for my body?

It seems like everyone I know is feeling a sense of fatigue with daily living. There are the hassles of personal life intensified by the rapid changes in our communities. Here locally we have major road construction going on and tons of new housing and large shopping complexes being built. Add to this the rapid changes in technology with AI invading all aspects of our lives.

This past week I tried calling the car dealer to schedule maintenance service and Google AI answered the phone. “Please describe why you’re calling and I will connect you” … while I record our conversation, use it for training purposes and connect you to the wrong person. … Gone are the days of talking to a human.

I used to be an advanced techie nerd. Building websites from scratch by typing html code in Notepad (predecessor of MSWord). I taught computer classes and loved the technology, the capability, the ease of making life less complicated and the thrill of figuring it out on my own. I still love creating new things on my computer, but...

This week I felt like there’s too much loss of control. Computers are not making my life easier, but taking more of my time away. A call to the car dealer that used to take 2-minutes gets me to a bot to leave a message and has me waiting 2 hours to get a call back from the human to schedule an appointment. I used to log into my bank and take care of my finances, without having to hop through 4 layers of validation proving who I am.

How am I handling it?…by escaping to what I can control. I started crocheting a sweater this week. It has been many years since I crochet. (note: I learned to crochet when I was a kid). I forgot how easy and almost mindless it is. I’ve been at my sewing machine stitching like crazy. I’m working on my art and trying to avoid screen time (ahem … yes, I know, I am typing on a computer right now).

If you’re feeling equally distressed, I encourage you to take time for simpler things. Make a meal from scratch and eat it slow. Color in an adult coloring book. Work on a (new or old) stitching project. Walk in the grass with your shoes off. Gaze at the moon in the night sky.

Simply … take time to ground yourself.