The other day... Roo and I were writing letters at home. We were having lovely time talking about what her friend would like to see on her letter and her drawing it out. She was finishing up her letter and I reached out for my iPhone to look up her friend's address. Then of course... I got trapped on my iPhone checking orders that came in my email inbox. Just then... Roo said, "You are distracting me, Mama."
It saddened me.
First... I had no idea that she even knew the word "distracting". It felt like such a big word for a 3 year old.
More importantly... I was saddened to be taught by my daughter that it was not okay for me to let the device take over the special moment from us.
Like many small businesses, Baum-kuchen is woven into our family's daily lives. We often wake up thinking about new projects and go to bed talking about how we can do things better. I love our Baum-kuchen and I can't really think of doing it in any other way... but that does not mean that I should always be immersed into the virtual world...
Also Frido has been away from his laptop a lot more recently. He doesn't carry iPhone... and maybe he just doesn't have a chance to open his laptop at home because it can be handful with two girls right now... but I have noticed that him not being online has made a big difference in the way the entire family has been feeling. It just feels he is more with us.
So I started to turn off my connectivity during the weekend. Laptop closed from Saturday morning till Monday morning, my email notification, Facebook updates turned off on my iPhone... I did post Instagram photos but avoided the urge to scroll down the feed to see what everyone else was doing. All through the weekend, I replaced my online routine with reading books, baking a cake, sketching ideas, indulging a lazy chat over breakfast and just being with people I adore.
It's amazing how much time moves slower and calmer and we can create more space for ourselves when we're here not out there. After the weekend I never turned on the email notification on my iPhone and have been trying to dedicate certain time of the day for email, Instagram, Facebook, etc...
Yes... it does mean that it sometimes takes me extra time to reply back emails and my presence online might not be as real-time as it used to be but maybe that is also okay... because true original inspiration comes from within not the other way around.
