What did I get out my digital sabbatical? In a nutshell, a whole hell of lot. Watch the video and you’ll hear my call to save the world. Yup, that’s what my digital sabbatical got me. Holy batman.
Thanks for listening - love to hear what you think. Support helps at times like these.
Links:
And some fancy pants science guys take a river digital sabbatical – hysterical. Bigger picture on the same idea – Fresh Air story.
Gwen Bell took a digital sabbatical, too and wrote so beautifully about it – start here.
My post on how I structured my time off.
What the hell are Conditions of Enoughness?
27 responses so far ↓
1 Cath Sep 1, 2010
Thanks so much for sharing your experience. I can see that a digital sabbatical is soooo worthwhile – somewhat scary when your digital journey is just beginning though (hey, what are my mere 157 followers going to think????)
So, is there a way that we can meet halfway? To put aside the addiction of the digital medium (let’s face it, FB, Twitter etc – it’s addictive!) and capture the pure power of the medium? Nothing else has the power, the sheer “spread” of the internet, the ability to meet people where they are at – to share a message with the world.
It is both the medium of our addiction and our saviour.
Hey, I don’t have the answers – I’m only starting on this journey. But like you, I want to save the world too. We have the medium in our hands. The real power is in the message!
Best of luck Jen. Thanks again for sharing your digital sabbatical experience with us all (less brave souls!) Maybe the answers lie in that bookshelf behind you!
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3 Claire Chapman Sep 1, 2010
Hi Jen
Wow, I really want to listen to this but it is jumping all over the place. Do you have a written version?!
Claire
4 The Other Laura Sep 1, 2010
Wow! This is so very exciting & I can’t wait to see what comes next.
And welcome back – there is definitely a new gleam in your eye!
5 Dahna Willis Sep 1, 2010
inspired and inspiring, dear jen…love that you work from the inside out and embrace not knowing:) sending you peace and joy…
6 Jennifer Sep 1, 2010
Thanks you dear hearts. Claire, it’s not jumping for me so try watching again – hit play, then pause, give it 30 seconds, then hit play again. Video streaming, still not 100% reliable.
7 Mahala Mazerov Sep 1, 2010
So beautiful to watch you, hear your vision along with your usual transparency of “no idea how I’m going to make this happen.”
When we unplug, when we take even a moment to get quiet and really listen to the wisdom of our hearts, we all want to save the world.
Happy to have your voice in the choir.
Big love,
Mahala
8 Virginia Sep 1, 2010
Fun to listen to your voice and see you again … I’m inspired by what you’ve gained from your ‘digital sabbatical’ even as I’ve just entered this virtual world more fully in the past couple of weeks. I suspect I’ll need to take one myself eventually, but for the moment I’m soaking up energy, support, and growing awareness of possibilities for my own ways to serve … helping to save the world. Thanks for all the links. I’m really looking forward to watching what comes next for you while I explore what’s next for me.
Hugs and blessings,
9 Susan Gallacher-Turner Sep 1, 2010
Welcome back and congratulations on sticking it out. You went 2 weeks without a new blog post, too! I think that would be very hard and yet, very refreshing.
Saving the world is a big challenge for sure, I love your heart and admire your honesty in not knowing how this is going to work out. It’s a question – how am I going to pay the bills, etc this way?-that I continue to ask myself while at the same time being so strongly pulled to keep at the work of my heart.
The links are thought provoking and interesting…thanks for all you share. And thanks for ‘not sharing’ for a while, too
10 Chris S. Sep 1, 2010
You really summed it up for me, Jen. Using media to interrupt one’s deeper process(es). That’s the nail on the head right there. I’m SO (so so so) guilty of this. I split myself into so many fragments during the day by this bad habit that the day is a blur, I don’t feel my feelings (or my body), and my soul is not inspired or nourished. I think I need to create a media schedule for myself (and some Email Rules of Engagement for my job) just like one creates an eating plan when changing bad habits there. I actually felt kind of grounded when I wrote that. Here’s to us all being whole people with ourselves and others, not little pieces scattered everywhere!
11 Lisa Gillispie Sep 1, 2010
Jennifer, you are absolutely radiant. My heart is so touched by what you shared. Digital junkie am I. You give me much to ponder about how I use it to escape. I know I have a tendency to feel justified in my digital junkiness because it all ties into my biz. And yet, the space from it all has such rich gifts and you so beautifully came back to tell us all. Thank you!
12 Laura Sep 1, 2010
LOVE your honesty, girl. Glad you got the vision and can now move forward with grace and trust.
13 Lisa Sep 1, 2010
Amazing stuff, Jen….. to see the light in you shining so brightly…. I believe you can do it…. and so can I, and so can we all. Hugs!
14 Amy Sep 1, 2010
Yes yes yes! You are back and you are different … it’s undeniable. Soooo excited to watch this unfold and to cheer you on as you step out into your shero’s journey. Maybe even hold your hand? Definitely cook you dinner!
Thanks for taking a stand for your inner wisdom, for staring down the dragons and for being candid about it so the rest of us can be inspired as well.
Big love,
Amy
15 Jill Sep 1, 2010
HOLY BATMAN INDEED!!!
16 Elle B Sep 1, 2010
This is so inspiring. So many times I’ve wanted to shuck the Internet for the reason you mention…it does take us away from the deep creative process. And yet it truly connects us in a way no other modern invention can.
If anyone can navigate this dichotomy, it’s you! I look forward to your insights in the days to come…
17 Sharon Martinelli Sep 1, 2010
Hell yes, let us go forth and save the world. I once heard that “heal thyself, heal the world” and I believe that with my heart and soul. This is why I am putting so much energy into getting myself back to optimum health. For every cell that heals in me, so heals the earth.
As to digital usage, I owe so much to facebook and my email friends, many of whom I met in Taos at the writer’s retreat. I feel like I have been getting a fantastic education and am being exposed to so many others who love the world. Thanks, Jen for your continued inspiring leadership.
18 Vicky White Sep 1, 2010
Wonderful Jen – thank you for your courage. I have not found my way with social media – I’m really aware of using it and email as a distraction whenever I get close to something meaningful and scary! So I gave up completely with Fb and Twitter for the last month – should have added email to that list. I know when I unplug for a weekend and go to the seaside, I get totally inspired by my life and business again, but I haven’t figured out how to have balance in that. I look forward to seeing how you do it – what a wonderful retreat you gave yourself. Sort of sad to see how I /we distract ourselves from so much and what a challenge it is to use technology in a way that supports what’s real. Scary stuff, what’s real! xoxox
19 Michele Christensen Sep 1, 2010
You’re so adorable, so transparent, so inspired, so inspiring. Uncertainty does not detract from the power of your message here. I love it! Can’t wait to see what’s next!
20 Kelly Salasin Sep 3, 2010
Funny, I avoided clicking the link even though I was curious…because… I don’t know… I felt respectfully cautious about your “pause,” and because I wanted to continue to skirt my own call for “pause.”
When you suggest reading the link, “How to take a digital sabbatical,” I want to PUSH BACK at you because it tells me that “I’m wrong” or that I’m “too much.”
I don’t want to be either. I don’t want to face the truth of either.
Thanks for putting your face out there, truth and all.
With respect for your pause and with support for the changes it brought from inside,
and with trepidation (and hope) for my own,
Kelly
21 Mary Marcdante Sep 4, 2010
As always, you deliver mindfulness, connection, clarity, creative ideas, hope and love. And even more powerful for me, especially as I listened to your commitment to step into an even greater Jen-Save-the-World-Louden, is the courage you pass on that helps me stand up and step out for the world in a bigger way too. Thanks Jen!
22 Jennifer Sep 4, 2010
I just keep coming back to say thank you… feeling a lot of fear today and a kind of “gee, what was I thinking.” I also find it hilarious that the post I wrote about my fear of seeing my desire to help save the world in a direct way got deleted from my server by my hosting service. How weird is that???
23 Eric Klein Sep 6, 2010
Jen
Yes! Yes! Yes!
Thank you for taking the time off to let this message come through even more clearly.
24 Susan Gallacher-Turner Sep 7, 2010
Weird alright…I wondered where it went. I began to think that I only thought I saw it and commented on it. My question is…where is it now?
25 Digital Sabbatical and More Holiday Enoughness » Comfort Queen Nov 15, 2010
[...] last time I found an entirely new direction for my work, so I guess I’m a believer. (Cue Monkeys [...]
26 Karen D Nov 15, 2010
wow these would be tough for me.. I have met some wonderful people who the only contact I have with them is email… hmmmm…
27 Natalie Currie Nov 20, 2010
Hi Jen:
Your post was very moving.
Mindfulness, connection and caring – it should be a bumper sticker. It sounds like you just may have a digital fast movement on your hands.
Thanks so much for your candour about “not knowing…yet!. I am also in a spot of “in-between” and you will no doubt be a model and resource for so many others in a process of transformation.
I look forward to embracing more from less.
Cheers,
Natalie