I unplugged for a week (3 times actually!) — here’s how it went

I recently started going offline while travelling, and now highly recommend it! #travel #productivity

Jul 30, 2023

Read “online” for the best experience (and for photos)!

So, hear me out — today (it’s 2023 where I’m at) we’re so flooded with information that our brains are literally drowning in the sea of external stimuli. The first thing most people do after they wake up is check their phones. For messages. For news. For posts.

I’ve done countless empirical experiments (meaning — on myself). Whenever I don’t rush for these stimuli for at least a few hours after waking up and take it easy by focusing on the physical reality (exercising, meditating, going out for a walk, cooking breakfast) — I always feel more productive and ready to tackle complicated things compared to times when I succumb to this dopamine rush and get online to read/see new stuff.

Granted, I’m a little crazy about this and have written at length about my ways of managing day-to-day focus: https://ednevsky.substack.com/p/4-simple-hacks-that-help-me-stay.

But this post is not about the day-to-day hacks, it’s more about the few-times-a-year hacks. It’s about weakening the neural pathways so that it becomes easier to understand where you actually are (metaphysically) as well as spot the potential places of improvement.

How it all started (1st trip)

Well, I bet that at some point in life (after the Internet was widely adopted), almost everyone has gone offline for a while in one way or another. Sometimes without even aiming for it — we’re talking long hikes, camping trips, staying in the village without internet access, etc.

Roughly 8 months ago was the first time I tried to do this DELIBERATELY, and not just by accident. That is, specifically plan my life around the fact that I can go offline for a week and don’t give a damn. See how it goes and if it actually helps me feel less stressed and more grounded.

At the time I really felt like I wanted to do the reset. The more unpredictable and challenging your life (and job) is, the more frequently you realize that. And as an entrepreneur in between things, I felt that really dearly.

So I figured that the best way to do that would be while traveling because I would have something that would keep me naturally busy most of the time.

Together with my fiancée Kate (girlfriend back then) we flew to Barcelona, rented a car, and went to explore the Basque country for a week. We drove all the way from Barcelona to Bilbao and spent around 5 days driving around the coast (from Santander to San Sebastian). Oh, and we also got engaged at the top of Gaztelugatxe.

I really really enjoyed this break from the other, online, reality. Focusing on the real one. However, as that was my first time taking such a retreat, I didn’t focus enough on using this opportunity to work on certain things, patterns, and behaviors.

Continuing the journey (2nd trip)

Winter in Warsaw is no joke, and we like to take every opportunity to escape to better weather, so, naturally, 4 months later we’ve had another trip lined up—this time, to Madeira.

I realized that I really enjoyed being fully present the last time we traveled — it allowed me to be 100% immersed in the experience of driving or walking around, checking out places, talking to people, eating food, etc. I knew that I wanted to go offline again — and, coincidentally, we had the back tickets in exactly one week. Perfect.

So we flew to Madeira, once again rented a car, and had a lot of fun driving all around the island. Hiking, walking, swimming, and eating good food.

When we came back I was ready to tackle the things I really wanted to — but ultimately ended up doing maybe 20% of what I wanted to because we somehow caught Covid. And even though it was a mild one, it still made it so much harder to use the change of context to my own advantage.

Preparing in a better way (3rd trip)

Another 4 months in, and as we were going on our little and fun annual Italian pet-sit tradition (more on the pet-sitting here: https://ednevsky.substack.com/p/pet-sitting-as-a-free-and-fun-alternative), I realized that I can do another week of shutting down. I just finished the first cohort of my newly-created bootcamp FundraisingHackers.com and started to feel like I want to dig deeper in terms of which directions or things I want to be focused on in the long run, so I went in with all of these thoughts on the background (after the time spent on prepping these)!

And now, here I am, sitting in the cozy bedroom in an old, 17-century stone house in a small Italian village called Montabone (read it as the Italians would say it!), and writing this article. Soon I’ll get back online but right now it’s so much easier to spot the things I’ve been putting off for all the wrong reasons.

Why do such offline retreats work in the first place?

What I realized along the way is that there is tremendous power in going offline for all the brain-related reasons, allowing it to rest and recover from the constant stimulation that we typically experience from technology and social media:

Neural pathways weaken: when you form a habit, your brain creates neural pathways that become stronger the more you repeat the behavior. By taking a break, you are interrupting those neural pathways, which can weaken them and make it easier to break the habit.
Dopamine levels rebalance: online things can be addictive because they trigger the release of dopamine, a neurotransmitter that is associated with pleasure and reward. Over time, this can lead to an imbalance in dopamine levels, which can make it harder to resist the urge to check stuff. Taking a break can allow your brain to rebalance dopamine levels and reduce the craving.
Brain waves slow down: constant exposure to screens and technology can keep the brain in a state of high arousal, with fast brain waves (beta waves) dominating. Taking a break can allow the brain to slow down and enter a more relaxed state, with slower brain waves (alpha and theta waves) becoming more dominant. This can contribute to a feeling of calm and relaxation.

Here’s a link to Perplexity’s query with proof-checking these claims.

“I also want to do this, any advice?”

Of course, here is what I’ve done and recommend you to try too:

Clearly separate the “allowed” online resources, and the ones that you ban for this period.
1. For me, the “green list” is the following:
  1. One messenger which I use to communicate with the hosts or any other travel-related contacts (hotel staff, pet owners). Choose the one where you don’t have stimuli and where you don’t communicate a lot (for me it’s WhatsApp).
  2. Google Maps and everything navigation-related (god bless the internet for this).
  3. Wikipedia and travel-related googling.
  4. Netflix to watch a few saved series while on a train/airplane.
2. The “red” list, on the opposite, is:
  1. All other messengers (including work-related)
  2. All social media
  3. Email
  4. Youtube
3. Basically, you want to have these days help you rewire the way you use your devices from the “pull” to “push”, being intentional about every phone opening. Here are a few Screen Time screenshots from my latest trip:
Pro-tip before the trip — list all of the ongoing “problems” you have. It can be a work task, something you’ve been putting off and you don’t know why, a desire to choose an idea for the pet project or a question of “What’s the meaning of life”. Anything does. Listing it somewhere where you’re able to take a look at that if needed during the trip will allow your brain to work on these “problems” in the diffused state, hopefully providing you with the clues to answers by the end of the trip.
Make sure to close all of the ongoing operational things before you leave so that you don’t worry about them. Nothing will crash if you prepare and let those who might need you know that they have a way to reach you if absolutely necessary.
Doing this on trips works best because you can shift your context 100%. Renting a car (or using trains) and exploring new places as much as possible (walking 15-30km per day) is perfect — you gotta maximize real-life experiences in order to fully get the value.
- The alternative to the above is vipassana, a silent meditation retreat — I’m going to try this in the next few years and let you know how it compares.
Make sure you journal what/how you feel, note your thoughts, etc — all of it might be very valuable at the end of the trip. Also, do the reflection.
Use the “free will” at the end of the retreat to your advantage — plan the things you’ve been postponing, rearrange your calendar, get rid of the things you don’t want to do anymore, etc. It’s the best time to change something before you get sucked in again.
- I suggest starting by listing the things that are on your mind or you’ve been thinking the most about and then going from there.

Good luck on your journey to your true self, friends.

Have you tried similar offline retreats? I’m very curious to hear your own findings — please reply to this email (if you’re reading this post there) or simply DM me — they’re open.

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