Is there anything you can do these days when the internet goes down? Anything worthwhile, that is?
You’ve been there. Your day is going great when suddenly, there’s no internet. Now what?
Thanks to a rogue dump truck with its bed “accidentally” left in the upright position, critical fiber optic lines were ripped down wiping out internet service for users from Santa Fe to Los Alamos, NM. And yours truly was one of them.
Why do I have visions of the driver dinking around with his cell phone?
It happened this past Wednesday. I had plans. It’s a rare occasion when I actually know what I want to work on all day long.
I’ve been struggling with finding a working rhythm since we moved to Santa Fe. And I was feeling pretty good that I had set out to do what I planned on.
So, what things do you do when the internet goes down?
Have you thought about it? The real question and underlying message here is, more accurately…
What are you able to do when the internet goes down?
This can be a problem. Especially if you haven’t thought about it. The thing is, we’re all too busy scrolling and tapping away to think about what to do when we suddenly can’t scroll and tap.
Are we allowing too much of this life to reside online?
It’s worth thinking about.
Honestly—with only nano-bits of exaggeration—for every task I either had planned to do or every Plan B alternative, I was tethered to the internet in some way.
The file—on the internet. My notes—on an app, in the cloud. The app—requires online verification for my subscription. Arrrrggghh!
Okay, I’ll read a book—oh crap, we both know where my book is!
Time passes slowly with the internet down—and options are thinning.
Remembering a real, in-print book I’ve been reading, I grab it from the end table. The problem is this book is one of those heady, academic texts that, although interesting, can only be tolerated for ten or twelve, mayyyybe twenty pages in a sitting—just too much researchy blah-blah-blah to keep me reading.
After killing no more than twenty or so minutes, I checked again. Yep, the internet is still down. Sigh.
Suddenly, something reminded me of the perfect poem for this occasion…
“Things to Do in the Belly of the Whale” by Dan Albergotti
Sounds weird, doesn’t it? It is—but it’s weird in a cool way. I discovered his poem one morning while listening to The Writer’s Almanac on NPR.
On that day, for me, the belly of the whale represented my job with Big Corpa. I could relate because, at the time, my cubicle felt exactly like I was working inside the belly of a giant Blue Whale.
It turns out, that the belly of the whale is a thing.
The tale goes all the way back to the Bible’s story of Jonah and the whale. So, it’s not just the title of a quirky poem.
The Belly of the Whale is also “a story element [in the hero’s journey] which represents the final separation from a hero’s known world [with the internet] and self [without the internet].” (source: yourdictionary.com)
You caught me, I added the parts about the internet.
Stephen Pickering gives us a pretty good definition too,
Giving yourself over to something completely, letting yourself be ‘swallowed’ by it… with the faith that you are not going to be annihilated but rather transformed”
— Stephen Pickering, songwriter, poet, musician
There’s got to be a metaphor in there somewhere.
Internet still down, I’m beginning to understand the first few lines of the poem, “Things to Do in the Belly of the Whale.”
“Measure the walls. Count the ribs. Notch the long days.”
Searching for things you can do when the internet goes down is pure exhaustion. So, I finally decided on the nuclear option—I took a nice two-hour nap.
And yes, exactly as you may have expected, the internet was still down after that glorious and regenerative rest.
Listen for the sound of your heart. Be thankful that you are here, swallowed with all hope, where you can rest and wait.”
—‘Belly’
And always remember…
You’ve got to unplug to recharge.”
—LifeUntucked®
Be untucked.
p.s. Oh! One last thing, if you found this post helpful, be sure to share it with a friend. Use the Share-Buttons at the top or the bottom of the post. Thanks, I owe you one.
Copyright © 2022 Jeff Meister – All Rights Reserved
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