experiment : stop caring what time it is

experiment : stop caring what time it is

why?
society tells you that you should care what time it is
you "should" wake up at this time
you "should" be hungry at this time
you "should" work these hours
you "should" have fun on these designated days and times
i kept trying to fit in someone else's time mold
i felt guilty when i didn't wake up "early enough"or needed to sleep in more
i felt guilty that i liked to work late into the night
i felt guilty if i wanted to take a nap in the middle of the day
i felt guilty if i was having fun in the middle of the week
i felt like i was supposed to eat as soon as i woke up and at set regular intervals
i felt like i was supposed to go to sleep at certain hours even if i wasn't tired
and you know what
WHO
CARES?!
no one is watching me every moment
i am capable of meeting people when i am supposed to
i am capable of attending what i should be attending
i am capable of conducting "business" even if its not at your designated times

so...
i hid the clock on my computer
changed the timezone on my email to be the southpole
got rid of the clock thats in my bedroom

the only way to check the time is
i) pressing f4 on my computer
where i have the local time and a bunch of other timezones
remember time is different everywhere else
ii) on my phone when i see if i have messages
which isn't very regularly
iii) randomly when i walking down the street trying to see what the temperature is

results (study still in progress)
it is LIBERATING
i get completely lost in my craft
i get completely lost in learning something new
i get completely lost in reading my books
i get completely lost in writing
i get completely lost in my projects
i follow what i am interested in at the moment
i don't care if i want to just keep working on something forever
i don't care if i the sun is coming up
just means i can turn off the lights
so i am enjoying the freedom of not feeling that i should work at set times
i eat when i want
i sleep when i need to
i work + learn + create for as long as i want to

now what?
we will see when the "real people" come back
it works now while everyone is away for the holidays
but it is nice to know what lifting this constraint actually has done for me


image credit : 10tenhell(Dali Clock)

experiment : ditching the facebook

experiment : ditching the facebook 

why?
i started think about how i actually use facebook
i check it to see what silly things my friends posted
look at the invites i had for events
once in a blue moon hit up a friend i met randomly along the path of life
look at my birthday wishes from friends
but essentially it was just wasting time
a
waste
of
time
not only was it the time spent physically on facebook
it was the facebook aftermath that bothers me the most
i started thinking my life was boring
"wish i could be over there"
"does she like him?"
"babies and marriages"
"other people being depressed with their lives"
"break ups and infidelity"
"horrible sad things in the world i should take a stance on but know nothing about"
"i wish i could travel more, surf more, something else more than what i AM doing"

so...
i deactivated it.
which is not any easy thing to find because facebook wants everyone on there
i decided to stop using much loved spotify because its solely linked to facebook
its my mini protest i suppose

result
this is still an ongoing experiment
its been a couple weeks already
but i love it
i don't care
i notice my twitches to go on there
then i just go do something else
a few people noticed but they know how to get in contact with me
in more meaningful ways
and that's cool

now what?
no more facebook.
that's it.
and i started doing things that are more meaningful to me
like this little blog :)

image credit : survey gizmo

experiment : stop waking up to my phone's alarm clock

experiment : stop waking up to my phone's alarm clock

why?
i found myself waking up very anxious.
feeling like i wasted my day for having to sleep an extra 5 minutes/1 hour
feeling like people were judging me for this
i was waking up to text messages
thoughts from other people were how i started the day rather than my own

so..
i bought a little puny alarm clock that takes 1 AA battery
and that was it
most days i wouldn't set it
i would let myself wake up when my body was rested

result
i was much happier when i woke up
i let my mind think about what i would like to do today
(usually something i thought of the night before)
and i do what excites me
and that actually helps me get out of bed quicker than hitting snooze 10 million times

now what?
i don't wake up to my phone unless it's very important
like catching a flight
or need to travel to fermilab for science


image credit : psextreme wallpapers

experiment : leave my phone off for 3 solid days

experiment : leave my phone off for 3 solid days


why?
i felt that when i need a break i would turn to my phone
and often i would just break my train of thought
and it would take longer to return to what i was taking a break from
sometimes i would just send silly messages to someone for no real reason
sometimes i would get bummed if no one text me in the small window when i hadn't looked at it
sometimes i was stoked about someone contacting me
and then i went spend a long time communicating with them
i would stare at what time it was for some reason
i would think i need a "better" phone to keep up with everyone

so...
my phone died one day
and i just left it for a few days
my closest friends were out of town
(also they know how to find me if they need to)
i just continued to do what i normally do
(science, creating, dancing around my house)

result
i felt that my mind was much more free
i let myself roam to my other interests
i took breaks when i was supposed to
i took different types of breaks
(stretching, drawing, walking away from my computer, writing)


now what?

i do have my phone on now
but mostly on silent
so i can go to it when i am ready to communicate
or when i leave the ringer on
i know that i have the possibility of incoming communication


i recognize my twitches for breaks
or my twitches for communication with people
now i make sure i take different types of breaks


image credit : commonlawblog

what is this little blog about?

here is the deal

i like to conduct experiments
you know little life experiments
i like to question everything
especially the things that are in my day to day life

so here i will share some of my experiments
the questions that i asked
please go ahead and try them
see what you learn

these experiments are easy
but they challenge you in ways that you were not always prepared for
you end up learning things about the depths of yourself
you start to learn why you have habits
and it is quite interesting

once the experiment is done then you can decide what you will like to do

one thing that is handy for me is to take notes on my thoughts
in the most freeform way possible (so i will actually do it)
in a journal
on a wiki
some way to go back and evaluate

image credit : alex sippel took that while we were doing science one day in the summer 2011