My New Year’s resolution for 2019 was to “be present.” I dare say I did. I made it a point to spend less time on social media. Every time I got the itch to check my Instagram or Facebook, I’d check myself. Did I really need to see what everyone is posting right now? Or was I grabbing for my phone out of habit? More often than not, I was opening the app out of habit when I had a minute to spare. By checking myself, I saved myself from wasting what would inevitably end up being a half hour (or more!) of my day that I would not get back. A half hour that would’ve been spent more productively - on my family, friends or businesses. Plus, what example was I setting for my kid?

I’m not alone. Co-founder Vanessa’s friend left Facebook, opting to start personal monthly email updates to her friends and family instead. I have friends who prefer to group text to keep in touch. 

How do you prefer to keep in touch with friends and family? Is it through Facebook? Or group text? Or group email? 

So as 2019 closed and 2020 dawned, I took some time to pause and reflect on my goals for the new year. What do I want to accomplish at this point in my life? That’s when I came across this article in the Huffington Post, which makes the case for scrapping New Year’s resolutions. What madness, I thought! But upon reading further, the article hit home and rang true to me. The author makes the case for setting intentions, instead.

If you received our guide to living aloha all year long in our holiday kit, you know that our intention in January is to disconnect. If not, you’ll receive a link to it in this month’s newsletter (sign up here). 

How are you planning to change how you engage with technology this year? Declare it here and we’ll help each other see it through! 

Meanwhile, for some insight on how we’ve incorporated the intention into our lives, check out this post. Hope it inspires you to find some time to disconnect in order to reconnect with yourself and loved ones this year.