A perfect escapade from the bombarding e-mails, messages and chats, spending some quality times all by oneself and for himself seems to be a perfect idea these days which is marked by social media revolution.
But the fact is, the tentacles of mobile phone, the hallucination of social media and the tempting messages, likes, shares, short videos, etc are something that is difficult to resist.
Waheed al Balushi, a senior official in one of the airline operators in the MENA region, broke all the notions and the comfort zone of social media and came out exploring the nuances of a life that reminded him of the days prior to the invention of mobile phones.
“I always used think how life would be if we are not ‘addicted’ to social media and wanted to experience the life all by myself and seek inner peace,” says Waheed who is a motivational speaker as well.
He didn’t delay the call of his inner self and embarked on a 3-day isolation journey cramped up in a hotel in Salalah recently.
But before taking off, he made sure he had disconnected his smart phone and activated an ordinary phone just made for receiving any emergency calls.
“That was a strong decision for me who is so carried away by the smart phones. But I was so determined to take this ‘extreme’ step and isolate myself from all the chaos of outside world that deter you from enjoying life.”
All he carried with him, besides the age-old phone, were three books by renowned authors, a bunch of plain papers and some dreams of achieving something at the end of the three-day self-imposed isolation.
Before embarking on the flight to detachment, all his social media handles bore the status: “Disconnect to connect”.
“Basically, I had three targets to achieve before the isolation. They are, regain the lost energy and vitality, re-prioritise things to do in life and re-engage myself in reading,” Al Balushi, who seemed so pleasant after the hiatus, said.
From day 1, the door of his room wore a sticker saying “Unlock your Safest Space” and the ‘do not disturb’ signage whenever he was inside the room, and during the times he visited the seashore or swimming pool.
During the three days, he remained all by himself as food was served at the door, he read books, jotted down points to ponder and immersed himself in a total seclusion.
He found time for walks, he found ample time for prayers, to do exercise and was able to realise how precious the time was which most of us wasting on silly social media posts, and engaging in useless things in life.
“I couldn’t simply believe the amount of time I had for myself. I would say these three days were the most useful times that I ever had,” Waheed says.
He read 273 pages of different authors and wrote nearly 27 pages long plans and priorities in life which helped him in his lectures.
“I returned from the hotel all afresh and with lots of ideas for my job and for pursuing a happy and peaceful personal life.”
He feels that anyone can achieve anything if he has three basic things in him.
“One should have a strong desire to achieve something, a solid plan, and an urge to continuously challenge oneself and if you have these three, it’s just a matter of time that you achieve your goals in life,” Waheed al Balushi adds.
