Saturday, March 2, 2013

March's Challenge!

It is long over due but the blog is back. And I'm ready to jump back in with one of the hardest challenges I have ever faced while living challenged. As you read this I am probably relaxing in my candlelit room attempting to read. My hope is that my preparations for this challenge were sufficient. 

The concept of this challenged was inspired in part by Earth Hour (http://www.earthhour.org/). Earth hour is a global event held by the WWF (the animal one, not the one with the steel cage) where families turn off the TV, shut down the video games, and even turn out the lights for an hour at a specified date and time. The result saves a ton of energy for this blue globe while bringing families together to have a meal in the dark or pull out that old board game. An hour without electricity or electronics sounds fun and easy right? I thought so too, so I will be observing what I call "Earth Evenings".

This month's challenge: I will attempt to avoid the use of electricity or electronic devices after dark.

What does this mean? No television (don't own one anyway), no computer, no Internet, no iPhone. No Spotify, no mindlessly checking Facebook, no satirical rants on Twitter, no more validation seeking photos of my dinner on Instagram! Now I won't finish the last season of Friday Night Lights on Netflix until April! Well, I suppose I can do all those things during the day, but those hours are usually filled.

The stairs are here somewhere.


The challenge here is clear, but this is also an anthropological study. What will I spend my nights doing? Will my sleeping patterns change. Will reducing my ambient/artificial light exposure change my body's reaction to the sun? How long will it take to adapt to this lifestyle? Will I be able to succeed? My hope is that I find my nights to be more profitable, I take this opportunity to read the stack of books I've been wanting to read. My hope is that I don't just drink alone in the dark every night.

Fine print - I'm not using this challenge as an excuse to be a recluse. (That challenge comes later) So, if I am invited out, I will go places where electricity is being used, but I will not actively use electronics, and I will limit the amount of times I go out per week. I will allow small use of texting only for the coordination of a rendezvous. I want this to be a challenge. I want to see the results of this experiment. I really don't want to fail my first challenge back.

Time to turn out the bright lights.