Digital Sabbath

Turning away from all those distractions

The first shipment of our household goods arrived in Anchorage, Alaska a few weeks ago. In a few hours, my family will board a plane and move our lives back to the United States of America. Moving is not new to us as a military family. For years, it felt like we were constantly unpacking and repacking boxes. This is the first time we have felt somewhat settled perhaps because it’s the longest we have ever lived anywhere in the past 10 years.

I’ve spent the past month furiously packing and preparing for this huge transition convincing myself that I’m in control. I can do this. I just need to power through and get these things done, as I’ve done so many times before, but it feels different this time. It feels harder.

It feels harder than it ever has before and I have no idea why. It’s is just this simple truth. This time is harder than the last. This move is harder than all of the ones before. This time is hard.

“But the world is still unpredictable,” the indigenous botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer observes. Like the mosses growing on the forest floor, we “survive by the grace of chance and the strength of our choices.” When so much is uncertain, what will we choose?

That might not be the first question. It comes later after we can see through all that is hurting and broken. It is a slow process, this careful paying attention to what isn’t working. I don’t actually believe that we need to have a reason to take a break.

We can choose sabbath rest for the sheer joy of it but we tend to frame our understanding around productivity. God did all this magic and wonder for six days and collapsed in a heap of exhaustion. Rest can only come after all that work is complete, no matter how hard it is. I wasn’t even giving myself space to consider a sabbath rest until I read the conclusion of Tricia Hersey’s Rest is Resistance. She talks about a digital sabbath in which she stops scrolling and stops replying to emails. She creates more space for imagination and true rest that isn’t focused on what might come next but exists for the sheer joy of wandering into the wild expanse of the soul and being surprised what might be found.

That question repeats. When so much is uncertain, what will I choose? I could choose to keep going and attempt to do all of the things that have been compiled on the three different lists on my paper calendar. There was so much that I thought I could do in this time. Those are dreams too but it doesn't account for how hard this move has been on me and my family. My kids are reeling with leaving the home they know and the friends they love so that there are lots of big feelings erupting all over the place. And it’s been hard. So hard that I’m making the choice to loosen my grip on control.

🧵I will blow bubbles, build forts and run barefoot in the grass with my kids and relish in the wonder of being in a new place.

🧵I will close my calendar to current and future directees for rest of June and throughout the month of July.

🧵I’ll still read my emails but won’t reply to any messages pertaining to my practice of spiritual direction in that same span of time.

🧵I will spend more time journaling than scrolling through social media. I know that my prayer life needs something else but I’m going to start here and be gentle with myself especially until my girls go back to school.

🧵I’ll pay extra attention to my circadian rhythms as I move to a place where the sun blazes most all of the time in the summer. I will prioritize sleep even when there is no night sky.

If you’re in the United States of America, especially if you protested yesterday, you might be feeling like this sort of break from reality is impossible. Or worse. It is unwise. After all, this is a time to pay attention. I don’t disagree and I encourage you to tend to your soul by consuming the news on AllSides or Ground News. Think about how you all engage with the news when you choose to consume the news, perhaps even by creating a little ritual around this desire to stay informed and engaged.

Create a ritual around your news consumption whether or not you decide to take a digital sabbath right now. Allow this space to be what you need it to be without it swallowing you whole. Be clear on the boundaries that you need.

🗞️ Set a time limit for how long you will engage in reading or listening to the news whether that is 10, 20, 30 minutes or even longer. You might create shorter times throughout the day to engage with the news so that you commit to this ritual 3 times a day for 15 minutes to get the news that you need. And then, actually set a timer.

🗞️ Before you open your browser, the newspaper or turn on the radio or television, allow yourself some space for joy. Do some stretching to connect with your body. Focus your attention on family photos remembering all you love. Play a favorite song and dance around the room. Choose something that feeds your soul and reminds you that there is joy even in resistance.

🗞️ Allow yourself to read and listen with your whole attention once you turn on the news. When you feel your anxiety rise or your anger rise, pause and place your hand on your heart. Breathe deeply and remember that joy. Hold onto it as you learn more about what is happening in the world.

🗞️ When that timer goes off, don't ignore it. Stop reading and listening. Turn off whatever device is giving you this information and return to your body. Close this time by shaking off that stress from reading the news.

What rest does your soul most need? What might a digital sabbath look like for you right now? What transformation might you find?

• Doing nothing: Another way of approaching sabbath time.

• What is most needed: Exploring rest and purpose in times like these, without any easy answers.

• Silence: Adding more quiet might be all the sabbath you need right now.

• Tiny pauses: Finding your (prayer) rhythm/groove/space again.

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