Timeless

When I woke up on Monday morning, my eyes were still closed and I was trying to work out what time it was with the light I could see. It was my first day back at work after my holiday so I was a bit paranoid about my alarm not going off. It still felt early so I stayed put and kept my eyes closed.

My cat is very much an alarm clock and the fact she hadn’t stirred made me think it was too early even for her. But the longer I lay there trying to keep in my sleepy state the less it was working. I gave in and looked at my watch. It was dead, all it showed was a red triangle. Warning me its temperature was too hot. Hmm, I had never seen that symbol before. I had to look at my phone to check the time. Would you believe, it was one minute before my alarm was due to go off. Phew.

I did my usual morning routine, checking on my Fitbit watch every so often to see if it had magically fixed itself. It didn’t. I googled the issue and discovered it was the end of the road for my Fitbit. Awww. I had a lot of use from it as it had lasted 8 years! What to do now was the question.

That evening, I searched online for a replacement and whilst I found one, I didn’t buy it as wanted to wait to be sure it was the one for me and did all I wanted it too. In the meantime I was thinking to challenge myself to spend time without a smart watch/fitness tracker and observe how I get on. So far it has been a week and I have enjoyed my time without out it. There were several things I noticed during the week:

Checking my wrist – I don’t know how many times I checked my wrist to look at the time, steps taken and my heart rate. I usually have my laptop in meetings and can check the time of my next meeting, so not having a watch wasn’t an issue, it was strange however, not glancing at my wrist every so often. It showed me how much of a habit glancing at your watch had become.

As the week wore on, I found myself checking for my watch less and less. However, there were key moments each day where I always went to check. First thing in the morning to see what time it was, lunchtime to check on the amount of steps before I go for my usual lunchtime walk and before going home from work to again check on the number of steps I had achieved so far that day, finally I checked it before bed to see my final steps for the day.

Not feeling time pressure – Because I was checking my wrist less often I felt the pressure was off to be here, there and everywhere. Although it wasn’t, I didn’t feel like I was up against the clock as I usually do. I wasn’t late for work any day but I was leaving home about 5 minutes later than I normally did. The pressure was off. Who knew a watch could make such a difference.

Enjoying the moment – One interesting thing I noticed, each day when I did yoga, I could no longer check what time it was and how long was left of the session. Instead I lost myself in the session and even when I really wanted to know how long left to go, I put it to the back of my mind. I let myself get into it and just be in the moment. I felt more relaxed and found myself wanting to do longer sessions.

Freedom – I stopped feeling the pressure to get to my step goal each day. I know that sounds obvious as I had nothing to check my progress, but it was freedom and I actually think I did more steps than usual as the pressure was off. When I check my watch, I know roughly where I should be in my steps at a particular time during the day. Without that, I had no clue and surprisingly I wasn’t bothered but enjoyed the walk for a walk not a means to get more steps.

We often think we can’t live without all our smart phones or watches and other devices, but the truth is, you can. It is likely far easier to live without a smart watch or fitness tracker than it is a phone. But would you want to?

I’ve still not bought a replacement Fitbit, but I know I will do so over the next few weeks. For now though, I will enjoy the peace and time freedom it has brought. In the future I won’t think twice about taking a week or more’s break from wearing it. Do you think you could do the same?

Have a lovely week and thank you for reading.

Look after you.

Love Emma xx