I am a child of the digital age. I have no affinity for nature, although I have maintained some affinity for bodies of water. I am more of a lighthouse/man-made spire type of person than I am redwood, although, I do have great respect for the way that nature always reclaims its space.

I say all of this mostly as a disclaimer, in recognition of the fact that I am usually connected. I am usually wired in. I am someone who found anchor in a digital landscape as a kid, and am used to being in that realm.

It’s not that surprising that in my old age (get a grip Mikkel, you’re 34) with a house in a city I have functionally lived in since 2009 (yes, we will continue to ignore that year in Madison), that I have become rooted in the more physical reality. But I am still one who likes the amenities. My apps, my stories, my ability to connect half a mile, half a state, half a country, half a world away.

But it’s been a very long time since I disconnected. But after a tech conference in the beating heart of Silicon Valley, I went up to somewhere vaguely in the Northern California Wilderness (it was a campground) and spent it the company of good people that my friend had assembled. And because of the fact that I was in the wilderness (a campground), I made it a point to either have my phone off or in airplane mode. I don’t usually do that. I’m glad I did it.

The idea of “Defragmentation” is both useful in both the biological and computer science sense. There is a reason that the number one suggestion for fixing a weird problem is either sleep or a quick start. Memory (in both senses of the word) gets fuzzy, and a reset helps with that.

I am not particularly great at scheduling recovery time when it comes to trip, so after my excursion I immediately had to return to the real world, but it wasn’t that bad.

I’m not in a precarious place per se, but I do find myself at a juncture and as I continue to reckon with the current landscape, there are a lot more questions then there are answers and I don’t know the best course of action given what I know and what I believe.

But I do know is that I am getting more sleep as of late. I do know that as much as I’m loathe to admit it, daily walks have been good for morale. I do know that life is a marathon, even if capitalism wants it to be a sprint, and that shifting my eyes from literally anything that isn’t a black mirror is good for me in the long run.

I just checked out of curiosity, but I have sent 142 emails. Most of those are news letter. Some of those are my digital comic series. I reckon I’ll have to do something special for my 100th newsletter and then maybe take a break, but I think the biggest thing I’ve learned this month is that I owe it to myself to take more breaks.

But of course, we’re not quite there yet.