low tech

I’ve been working at a laptop in a desk in a room in the house for my day job. (Compared to working on a laptop in my bed in the same room in the house for writing for fun. Different laptop, though, for work and play. Helps me distinguish the parts of the day. But I digress…)

My husband just came in here and told me how he had a conference call for work on his laptop and how it was so much more palatable—downright pleasant—to conduct said call with his feet in the pool.

I growled at him to get out and let me be. (One disadvantage to not working out of the office is there’s no commute to separate between the workday and evening. I have to invent rituals to do so, like changing clothes, shutting down for the day, and pushing in my chair.) (So I can be grumpy in the home office.)

But he may be onto something.

While we’re in this virtual world with video meetings and school by long distance, sometimes it’s nice to actually feel something the old-fashioned way. With the senses in your body.

Cold ice in a glass on your tongue.

Fan on your face.

A real pen in your hand, writing on real paper. In my case, a slim-lined Japanese pen on French lined A4 paper.

The scent of mint. (At least that’s what it smells like these days around our house.)

And so on.

If you come to my house and see what is in it, you can tell I’ve been drawn to things that are wabi-sabi for a long time. I adore the sort of weathered, soulful quality objects take on when they’ve been passed around by generations or used a lot. When they are built to last.

On the other hand, I’m writing this on a new laptop, and it’s VERRA nice.

So I’m not advocating one or another. I’m just commenting that in this world where we have to keep our distance, it’s also important to have real sensory experiences. To have sun beat down on our faces (with sunscreen, yes, I can be the responsible blogger and mention that). Or to put on super soft, worn-in clothes and drink something cool and refreshing. Or to make sure that we don’t get too lost in the phones and apps and streaming content and take a step outside.