The Impact of Reconnecting

The way I try to incorporate Jenny Odell’s writing into something I care about is by incorporating what I think is her main idea with nature in some way. One thing that I like doing in my spare time is working out. What I will do is instead of going to the gym to workout, I will go into my backyard and do my workout there. This is really nice because after working out I can sit and ponder life for a little bit. It is hard to describe the feeling, but when you are exhausted you are sometimes able to think things through in a different way and it can be very peaceful. This is just an example of how I like to incorporate Jenny Odell’s approach into my daily life. If I do not get outside and do something at least once in a day, then I end up going crazy and maybe even feeling a little bit sad out of the blue. Sometimes when I am frustrated about something I try and take the time to sit and think about if I have been outside at all that day. Nine times out of ten the answer would be no and I would take time to go outside and do something, even if it is only for a couple of minutes. This is just something that I have always done and will continue to do, but i did not realize that I was doing what Odell was writing about until I read her book. Odell talks about disconnecting from work, or social media, and doing “nothing”. The common misconception Odell tries to break is that if you do nothing you are being unproductive. Doing nothing the right way can be more beneficial to your health than doing something. This means taking time to disconnect from the things in your life causing stress, but making sure to reconnect with something else. This healthy reconnection is what Odell is trying to show people they can attain so they can have a more fulfilling life. That being said, without taking the time I need to reconnect with nature, I would probably fall apart and become less productive after about a week of not going outside.

Nature and the environment on Earth are slowly being ruined by the Earth’s population. Whether it is littering on the side of a highway or the air pollution given off by factories, people are not very friendly when it comes to our environment. Although I doubt anyone is purposefully trying their best to kill our planet I think that there needs to be a conscious effort to not do so. As Odell masterfully says in her book, “Simple awareness is the seed of responsibility.” Once people become aware of how what they are doing is hurting the environment, they will be more likely to take responsibility and try to change their actions for the better. Other than the fact that we would all die without the environment, people need to realize that it is also what keeps us from becoming overwhelmed in our daily lives. I can not even begin to count the amount of times that I have been frustrated or upset with something and someone has told me to take a walk outside to clear my head. Not only does this get you away from the situation you are frustrated with, but it also gives you time to reconnect with nature whether you realize it or not. This to me is a perfect example of how Odell wants us to disconnect from what is making us unproductive and connect with something that will make us more productive. The more disconnected we become from other people’s lives in social media, or our daily struggles, the more connected we feel towards something else in our immediate surroundings. One of the things that is always in our immediate surroundings is nature. If more people took Odell’s advice and took a step back from our connected society to take the time to connect with something else, more people would realize how much of a safe haven the environment is, not only to animals, but to people as well. If we destroy the environment that keeps us all sane, then what will happen to us? I know that without the environment we would die, but for arguments sake, let us say that people on Earth destroy the environment just enough so that it no longer has the characteristics that we find appealing about it, but it is still able to sustain life. How would people who feel similarly to myself deal with the stress they get from their daily lives, if they are not able to detox from being stuck to the internet and go outside? Maybe we would adapt to find another way to get rid of the stress we accumulate from being so connected, but for me nothing can replace the feeling that we get when we step out and breathe in the fresh smell of nature.

Odell continuously talks about this idea of disconnecting from the attention economy and reconnecting with something else. The more I think about it the more I realize that reconnecting with something is the most important part. Without this crucial step of reconnecting with something else, disconnecting from your phone, the internet, or anything that is bothering you in general is pointless. You will never truly be able to disconnect from something without reconnecting to something else. One example from Odell’s book is how she accidentally went on a trip without her phone. The reason this was her wake up call was because she was still able to connect with people in her immediate surroundings. She disconnected from living other people’s lives through her phone and worried about living her own life with the people that were around her. This is similar to what I do in my daily life, but I am often alone in my house since my parents are at work and my sister is at school. In order for me to detox properly like in Odell’s example I have to be able to reconnect with something in my immediate surroundings. The next easiest thing for me to connect with instead of people is the environment. The environment is always around me, it is always readily available, and it always calms me down and allows me to think more clearly. Another thing I do instead of working out with weights is climbing things. Trees, playgrounds, field goal posts or basketball hoops at the park near my house, I will climb it all. Throughout my life, climbing is something that I have always gone to if I am bored, stressed, or angry. It is like a secondary reconnection point that I have. For me, nothing beats the feeling of climbing up into a tree and getting a good look at the environment that is around me. It gives me a different perspective physically and mentally that I would not have experienced if I did not disconnect and try to reconnect with nature and myself in the first place.

Odell also talks about this idea of participating, but not as asked. This idea caught my attention and I feel like it is a good idea to keep in mind as you live your life. Many times we are asked to participate in society and conform to a certain way of life and it seems like it is the only way to move forward and be successful. One way of thinking that has been ingrained into our minds is that time is money. If you are not doing something, then you are wasting time which could be turned into money. Jenny Odell tries to show us that we do not need this type of thinking in order to be successful and that it is actually detrimental to our health to think like that. It is very easy to get caught up in the idea that we constantly need to be doing something and this can very easily stress out a lot of people. Sometimes we need to disconnect from what we are doing, or being told to do in society so that we can really focus and be productive in the ways that we want to be. This can be any number of things depending on the person. For me, I love to take the time and go outside and take in the environment. While I am at it, I may decide to workout or go climb something, but those are the ways that I disconnect and focus on how I can be productive in my own way. For someone else it may be to read a book, or to write in a journal. It does not matter what the activity is that someone chooses to reconnect with, as long as they are reconnecting with something. This reconnecting to something else is, again, the most important part of the disconnecting process. To me, this is the main idea that Odell was trying to get across to people, and this is the idea that I try to practice and incorporate into my daily life.