Connect while being disconnected
Find out how a broken phone helps in your personal quest to find back your writing style!
Do you remember the last time your phone broke?
It happened to me twice in four weeks. Without any warning the phone screen went black and would not revive. I tried to restart it but the button did not even respond. Throughout Christmas and New Year I had used my phone intensely messaging and talking to family and friends. Roughly and unexpectedly I was disconnected from the outside world.
Can you recall how you felt?
Honestly in a time scale of 30 minutes I went from disbelief to anger, frustration and ended up with tears in my eyes. I was not able to contact anyone and became unreachable for others. Besides that I was waiting for an important phone call to hear about continuation of treatment of the health setbacks I was going through the past 3 month’s.
Staying in Helsinki specially in wintertime can sometimes be pretty isolated. Not that I mind, I actually enjoy the solitude. When I go out, however, my phone is stuck to me like a third hand. Without a phone:
I don’ t have google translate to help me out when my five words of Finnish is not enough.
My public transport app is not helping me to my destination (although I can orient myself better and better!)
After I managed to calm myself down, I decided to go for a walk. Before putting on my four layers of clothes I checked the temperature. It said -18 degrees Celsius, that ‘feels like’ -26. Not paying much attention to the words ‘feels like’, I closed the door behind me and walked into the freezing cold wind. It was only days later that it hit me.
How do my strong emotional reaction to my phone, my Substack journal and perceived outside temperature connect to one another?
Come to think of it: Actually a lot! If you just subscribed to my Substack page (thank you for that!), you may frown and think; what is she babbling about? Stop reading this! I invite you kindly to read first how my journey started three years ago.
Here we go! Just as how each one of us perceives coldness differently, we also respond differently on a similar occurring event. Like you may have responded in a total different way when your phone brakes down. When you tell or write about your experience, something interesting happens. Undeliberate feelings or state of mind slip in between the lines.
If you, for instance text someone:
‘I got to the hotelroom and will finally go to sleep now. Talk in the morning.’
You not only provide the message receiver with practical information about your whereabouts. You also share the message of being on a safe place and longing to hear the voice of to the message receiver.
That is the little gem I found out again in my quest to find back my writing style.
What happened to my phone? It came alive again.
Next time I went for a walk in the freezing cold, I wanted to take a picture with my phone. As I was getting ready it signaled a 10% battery capacity. Before I managed to take the photo, the screen went black. I was disconnected from the outside world again. This time I did not mind at all as it enabled me to fully connect in the moment and the place I was standing.