The last of the coals glowed, crackling softly in the night. The moon shone overhead, a lopsided grin hung from the branches of the oak tree. I crouched by the encircling stones, the same way the ancestors have done for thousands of years. The warmth from the fire, the lunar backdrop, the irresistible smell of wood smoke connect me to them. Whatever else is going on in the world, this little moment remains timeless.

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The Experiment

I did a week of no inputs. It had initially started out as a simple challenge of no reading. I, of course, had to turn it up a few notches.

No Input Challenge Rules

• No reading*
• No TV
• No email*
• No social media
• No podcasts
• No "looking things up" for the sake of it

No inputs.

*I did read my children bedtime stories and I did read emails that were addressed directly to me (no substack, newsletters, or articles, though).

Here’s what happened: I learned how to bend time.

In the seasons of busy busy busy, of the hustle and bustle and holiday cheer, where we look back and say My! How the time has flown! I found that time was… slow.

Here’s what I did instead:

• I went to bed earlier,
• I got up earlier,
• I had several long conversations with my husband,
• Played more with my children

I got bored. And my brain really wanted to reach for the phone during the day to just check on things or look something up. Instead, I found myself tidying things that had been bothering me, or engaging with my kiddos. I found myself doing little scribbles and doodles, and playing more in the garden.

Or I’d simply take a breath and tell myself the same things I tell my children: it’s okay to be bored. It’s where imagination comes from.

Science backs this up. The saying “time flies when you’re having fun” has actually been researched— and the inverse has also be proven true: time drags when you’re bored. This is represented in classrooms all over the world as students wait for the bell to ring signaling the end of class.

The colloquial end of year lament where has the time gone? is exchanged for a slower pace, more present acknowledgement of where the time currently is.

Suddenly there was time for a little creative writing. There was space to listen to what I really wanted to do— and not search for an input to procrastinate a decision.

It felt like an internal reorganization. Shelf some things here, move that over there, toss that right out the window. Let it go. Make space for flow. Make space for me.

The notifications lighting and buzzing our phones, the novel we’re trying to sneak in between our responsibilities, the Netflix show we watch, all of these distract us from the present moment. In doing so, it actually makes us more frazzled, and less able to live well.

As for this particular little challenge, a full fast from inputs: I wouldn’t do it all the time. I have Christmas movies to watch, after all (and a mile-long reading list). But it is certainly a reset I would do again.

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Wishing you a joyous, relaxed holiday season.
- Kara

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