Distraction-Less: A Reflection on a Digital Detox Retreat

And?We're?Off!

WELCOME TO 2024!

Whenever you may be reading this, I?hope that your first week of the year was a settling one. It always makes me laugh (more of a giggle actually), knowing how much pressure we typically put on ourselves during the first few weeks of a new year. For some reason, we convince ourselves that we should be achieving every single goal and vision at supersonic speeds and judge ourselves if we don't have it all wrapped up by Jan 30! If you happen to be feeling any of these sensations, let me remind you this is not a race and even if it were, it would be a long one that isn't won by January 8!

One thing I learned last year was the importance of giving myself compassion and grace. As people we certainly have a tendency to be harsh on ourselves, but with perspective and self-love (something

I was fortunate enough to embody thanks to the Hoffman Process last year), I realized that sometimes the best progress is not dictated by the addition of goals, but by the subtraction of things that hold us back. These could be limiting beliefs, negative people in our lives, or habits and routines that we get to say no to.

With that said, I'd love to quickly share, an epic experience I had over New Year's. Inspired by a friend of mine who regularly engages in what he calls a Digital Detox i.e. turning off his phone and all other technology for one week to simply be by himself without distractions, I headed out to the desert and hid myself in a small Airbnb for five days. All I brought with me was a book ‘The Creative Act: A way of Being, by Rick Rubin’ (this is an incredible read about honoring our creativity and ability to be the artists in our own lives), writing paper, flip charts, an assortment of pens and highlighters, a guitar and a week’s worth worth of healthy groceries.

My whole intention was that I wanted to create space, without any distractions (including people and phones) simply so I could hear myself think, and possibly open up channels for clarity, reflection, realizations and downloads. Aided by an incredibly simple framework that included meditating, walking, making my own food, journaling and daily napping, what ended up happening for me was actually really profound.

Now at the risk of sounding like I'm exaggerating, nestled in a beautiful Airbnb surrounded by desert and a distinct lack of distraction, I experienced what I could only explain as a surge of creativity that I simply couldn't have predicted. It was as if someone had opened up the floodgates to a river of streaming ideas, insights and epiphany's. As such, in between the walking and playing music to myself, I wrote pages and pages of messy writing, which even though quite hard to read upon reflection, allowed me to round out the year with complete closure and envision an incredibly personal set of meaningful goals and aspirations for 2024.

Without getting into all the weeds of the writing itself, one thing that was very clear to me, was how much we as people allow ourselves to be distracted from ourselves in a way that distances the relationship we have with our thoughts, body, and even spirit.?

So what do I do with this now, is the question I've been asking myself, and so far I've really enjoyed the process. I'm experimenting with the idea of having a daily morning and evening routine that involves no technology and time by myself to read, think and continue to write. Each Sunday I switch my phone off for the entirety of the day. So far there has only been one Sunday and that was yesterday. It was bliss!

Now, of course, I realize that taking a trip like this may be trickier for some people than others, but if the above in anyway interests you, I'd be very happy to share more information so that you could set yourself up for a week of no distractions.

I just shared on my Instagram stories my 'Distraction-Less Manifesto' that outlines my rules that I hope will allow me to continue to be less distracted. If you're not following me on IG, here's the link :)

I have to thank my very good friend, Jesse Israel for the inspiration on this one.?

I want to be your accountability buddy!?

In my last newsletter, a few weeks ago, I offered to be your accountability buddy and shared a link, whereby you could share your goal with me, allowing me to check in with you in a couple of weeks to see how much progress you have made. Unfortunately, that link didn't work so again I want to share it below.

This is specifically for people who find that after the conception and promise that they will throw themselves at an idea, somehow, lose conviction, inspiration, and any structure to bring that goal to life.

If this sounds like you, please share your goal below, and I will be in touch soon.

What's your Biggest Goal for 2024?

2024 GROUP TRIP

In the last newsletter, I shared that an ambition of mine for this year was to organize a group trip, where a bunch of us could get together, for the purpose of achieving a shared Bucketlist goal.

I shared three options of potential trips which were to embark on a sailing trip across an ocean, diving into a surf trip, and finally to quite simply build something.

The results are in and an overwhelming majority of 76% voted that they would like to join me on a trip to build something!

This is exciting and based on these results I’ve already started to plan something :)

If you think that you would be interested in getting more information on a charitable trip to build something with me, please click on the link below and answer a few really simple questions.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/DTLTLBQ

At this stage, we've been in touch with one potential charitable partner but of course, if you're reading this, and you feel like you might have a great idea or organization I'm always open to suggestions!

I'll be keeping you posted on the updates here and for those of you who answer the questions, I'll be emailing you specifically very shortly.

Thanks!

With that said, I want to make this short and sweet, so please remember to be awesome, go easy on yourself and I’ll be back in touch soon!

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Seb :)

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