If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
It’s been just over two months since I got rid of the last serious ‘noise maker’ in my apartment (DSL). Since then, I’ve written a little bit about how much I was surprised by the habits I had that depended upon these things — cable TV, DSL, etc.
In essence, I’ve spent the last two months without Digg, CNN, the Wall Street Journal and so on. Living with myself, without these distractions, has been an interesting and educational experience.
The first thing was the realization that there is a difference between restraint and deprivation. Restraint seems to be a healthy way to enact control and approach life in a deliberate fashion. Deprivation is, by definition, the denial of something ‘enjoyable’. The key question that I confronted was: what is enjoyment?
The easy answer to the question is: Enjoyment is whatever feels good. The complex answer, which I think is more accurate is: Enjoyment is whatever makes you feel whole.
So where’s the borderline between restraint and deprivation?
I’ll talk about what I learned and some simple answers that I’ve arrived at in two months of semi-silence and self-imposed restraint. I’ll break it up like this:
- The Surprising Force of Habit
- What to do when living in a ‘quiet’ home
- Living in my body (not in my head)
It’s worth saying that ’silence’ is what I created in my environment. I’ve hardly been silent myself. I think I might be more deliberate about what I say, but I’ve still been yakking away as much as before I got rid of the noisy stuff in my apartment.
