Forced Detox

I'm not sure there are many parts of being ill that I actually like, but one thing is certainly the forced detox of basically anything unessential.

If you noticed my sudden lack of writing here, or how I've been inactive on Twitter for a while, it's mainly down to the fact I was ill¹.

A common trait of me being ill is a complete lack of energy. So for around a full week, I did nothing except wake up in the afternoon, watch a Harry Potter movie, barely eat anything, and then go back to bed. To be honest it wasn't all bad.

But because of my lack of energy, I couldn't exactly spend hours in front of a computer doing any writing, I wasn't interested in reading, and keeping up with Twitter felt like work. So I just gave it all up. It was pretty good.

Now I've essentially recovered, or at least I'm well enough to start working again, so I'm now trying to get back in to my normal habits. But like any good detox would do, the way I think about things has changed.

Twitter has become too political for me right now, which makes it super boring to use. Especially when it's mostly US politics, which I don't have an interest in. So I've been using Instagram and TikTok more. Mainly because the content is more fun, and not just online bickering.

As for reading, I haven't been keeping up with my RSS feeds at all, and I haven't read any books recently either. But I've started to go through my RSS reader now, and I do plan on starting On Writing by Stephen King soon.

This might not exactly be a revelation to most, but I'm impressed with how much just a little time away can clear your head and put things into perspective. Maybe getting ill isn't the best way to start a detox, but it worked for me.