We live in a world of buzzing, pinging and scrolling, in which the idea of a digital detox sounds nice but can seem impossible. A weekend without WiFi or a trip to a remote cabin seems like a pipe dream, and in many cases, it is. And waiting for a big escape that allows you to leave it all behind misses the point, when something more realistic and practical is right in front of us: the daily reset.
By Team Savant
Image: David Bruwer
Rethinking What a Break Is
Technology is so deeply woven into how we live and work, and how we communicate. And when every spare moment seems to be filled with stimulation from emails, news alerts and social media, we can lose the space where we think our thoughts and feel our feelings. They can be replaced by notifications and headlines and it becomes numbing very quickly. This isn’t some rebellious statement against technology — it can be endlessly useful — but it’s a call to action for reclaiming moments that belong to you alone.
Moments That Don’t Ask Anything of You
The daily reset is something that can be begun in the small, often overlooked pockets of time that fall between errands, before work tasks, or even just before bed. It’s about taking a conscious pause, one where you don’t need to be productive, “on”, or consuming. You’re simply present in the moment.
This pause can mean sipping your coffee without picking up your phone. It can be sitting in the garden watching the flora and fauna, using the time to journal, vape, or listen to a song you just remembered from decades ago. The action itself is not what’s important. It’s about the intention: to be still, to take a breath, and do something that doesn’t make any demands on you.
Make It a Ritual Rather Than a Rule
The key thing about a reset is that it’s not something you can fail at: if it becomes a thing to tick off, then it loses what makes it important. This is about reclaiming time rather than giving it over to something else. Some days you’ll get a good ten minutes, and other days, life takes over and you may only get a minute here and there. Whatever you can claw back from the digital whirlwind is enough.
If it helps, think of it as a ritual, not a schedule. Light candles as the sun sets rather than turning on a harsher electric light. Step outside for fresh air after lunch. Turn off notifications when you’re grabbing a power nap. All of these are little cues to your nervous system that tell it “it’s okay to take a minute”. And they become habits after a while.
Peace isn’t always to be found in the big (scheduled) getaways. Sometimes it’s in the gaps between tasks, the short pockets of silence and even the first few minutes after waking. When we embrace these moments, we begin to live life in a more present way, and it carries more rewards than a lifetime of breaks in the wilderness.