Unplugged Family Time
Unplugging and going on adventures with my family is just the kind of enriching, soul-nourishing activity I cherish.
The gift of time. The gift of connection, nature, beauty, discovery. The gift of laughter and of hand holding. This is all that I wanted for Mothers Day. After treatment, time with my family is a gift, in and of itself. During the week there is always so much running around (I believe my new occupation is a teenage uber driver service), so it’s easy to get caught up in the fast paced dance of life and miss moments to cherish the beauty I’m surrounded by. But because I live with a sense of my mortal shadow, I do feel a pressing need to squeeze the most out of this time. So for Mothers Day I chose an activity that I knew I’d find soul-nourishing. An off the beaten track wander to a beautiful and remote canyon. Time out in the wild. Just the five of us.
Once we clambered along the side of a busy highway and got beyond the disgusting amount of trash carelessly flung from passing cars, we found ourselves surrounded by moss damp, sun-flickering shadows, under the canopy of ancient forests. There was an initiation of freezing feet as we entered this hidden world through icy fresh flowing rapids. And then silence. Stillness. Serenity.
No phones. No notifications. No excess noise vying for our attention.
A barely used pest control track meandered alongside the river; little orange ties hanging limply from trunks were really the only flags we were on the right route. This meant scrambling over, around and sometimes under logs and feeling like intrepid adventurers entering time untouched. Bright blood red mushrooms warned us not to tamper. Feathered fingers of delicate ferns invited a breezy brush. Sun streams and waterfalls drew our eyes skyward in marvel. Awe. Wonder.
No wi-fi. No likes. No bright neon lights dimming our senses.
When we arrived at the canyon, tall hard walls of limestone dwarfed us, contained us, challenged us. To climb. Upward. Evidence of rock climbing in years gone by; little metal pegs and pins on sheer ascents. Then back to what’s in reach, splashing turns to swimming; stick throwing turns to leaf boat races. The pure fun of unpretentious play. Childlike. In nature.
This day encapsulates something that is of growing importance for me, for our family, for this generation. Time outdoors. Time spent in authentic connection. Time spent in motion, in the moment, in meandering; no rush, no destination, no distractions. Just togetherness.
When I read the saddening statistics of the anxiety, depression, and hopelessness plaguing the younger generations, my heart yearns for their freedom. Excessive screen time leads to excessive disconnection. Shallow relationships counted by followers not friends leads to fragile facades, easily fractured. Our throw away consumer culture, chews up all that is of value and ditches our hopes and hearts by the wayside. Despite all that we have gone through as a family over the last few years, I’m grateful that my own children are not tightly tethered to technology and have, instead, known a childhood of freedom, of discovery, of adventure, nature, connection, realness.
In this gifted time, Anton and I want to make a difference. To live life’s of purpose. So another one of my missions in this season is to produce a webseries called “Kids Unplugged” - a series that champions children who choose the wild over wi-fi. It is our hope to share stories of positive role models for families to aspire to. We’ll show that thriving childhoods don’t happen behind screens — they happen outside, unplugged, and together. We're aiming to film our first series this winter - five episodes starting in the Bay of Plenty (& then hopefully beyond). To make it happen we do need financial support for the production costs and have set up a crowd funding campaign (which is already 50% of the way there!). The more we raise, the more we can do — and the less we carry personally as a family to make this happen. If you’d believe children need “more airtime and less screentime”; to rediscover a play-based childhood, we’d absolutely love your support in getting our vision of Kids Unplugged off the ground. Here’s a link for more information. And please feel free to share it with others, the more people behind it, the greater impact we can have.
And it’s not just our children who need this. Technology has taken over so much of our adult lives. But it's not really what we yearn for is it? If we take a moment to connect with our feelings rather than our phones, we’d soon realise we are desperately craving something authentic, real and wholly satisfying. And that which we seek will never be found in the quick fix of a scroll, it’s more likely discovered in a gentle unplugged stroll.
Courage, Love and Legacy | Points to Ponder
I’m thankful for the days when we carve out time for what’s most important in life. There are so many things vying for our attention, but distraction is a great deception. It’s easy to get lost and overwhelmed by the daily demands. So take time this week to plan doing something different, something intentional, something memorable that you can enjoy with your loved ones. Be purposeful about choosing enriching, soul-nourishing moments. We are all living in gifted time. Let’s make more space for awe and wonder.