This is a momentous vacation for me - it will be my first real vacation not accompanied by my parents or a past boyfriend. I'm going with my BFF and can only imagine the true spirit of freedom that will surround us. (Sing it for us George Michael)
Unlike traveling with parents I won't have to worry about curfews (yes, even on vacation!) or embarrassing them, or showing too much skin (bring on the teeny tiny bikinis!). And unlike traveling with my exes, I won't have to be on their schedule, or be careful who I talk to (a boy? gasp!), or how much I drink. Actually, the last cruise I was on, my boyfriend proposed to me the first night aboard! Michael* completely caught me off-guard. I remember being on the top deck and he started talking about a secret meeting he had up in Chicago a month before and that he hadn't been completely honest with me about a few things...I seriously considered throwing him overboard! WTF?! But then he revealed that he met up with my parents to ask for my hand in marriage... Precious. Too bad he was an angry, creepy, controlling, asshole or it would have been a great story to tell our kids someday. (I left him 4 weeks before our wedding in 2012, by the way. Sorry, not sorry. And I totally should have pushed the jackass overboard!)
Not sure how this post about a vacation turned into a confession, but I warned you in my very first blog that I tend to go off on tangents...and that I'm honest. Probably too honest. (Read that blog here)
Moving on... So this cruise will be one of the best weeks of my life, to be sure. We've got theme nights (everything from neon, to superhero, to masquerade) and island excursions (like a tour of Flamingo Beach and a zip line in Labadee), an endless drink package, fine dining, warm sun, oh, and cute singles!!
But mostly I'm looking forward to unplugging. I will not be online. I will not be on Facebook or Instagram. I will not be reachable by text. I will not be checking email. I will not even have my computer.
My life is far too controlled by screens! Can you relate??
I wake up to the alarm on my cell phone. I work all day in front of a laptop, with a second monitor. I go to the gym to run on a treadmill with a personal TV showing my course. I eat dinner scrolling through social media or reading a book on my Kindle. And at the end of the day I usually watch a show or movie in bed. 24-7 I'm tied to technology! And I need a break. I don't want to know who is complaining about our President, who's kid kept them up until 3am, or who made it through leg day at the gym. I really shouldn't care about that shit anyway, but I do. I do it too occasionally. And I (used to) like my virtual life. It used to be such a happy, funny life (remember addictive games, pictures with friends (NOT selfies), and check ins at restaurants?). Lately all the complaining and meddling in others' business is out of control! Give me the days before Likes (not to mention all the other emotions!), and making random FB albums, and bragging about your winning streak on Farmville! Where did our innocence go?! Look at this fluffy, happy, unicorn-type shit from 2006 that I posted:
Not a single Like or comment...we didn't do that back then. We actually took time to make albums, not just upload pictures from our phone. And we/I thought it was important to post a picture of a van shaped like a pig. I want that silliness back! We all take things FAR too seriously now. If a girl doesn't get 100 likes on a picture, she deletes it! We bicker over politics. We say mean things to people and feel empowered because of this buffer of a screen name. It's bullshit!
My request is that you think about your virtual life. How would someone view you if they ONLY saw your profiles? Do you use FB as a soapbox? Do you only go online to complain? Are you rude to people because you'll never meet them in person?
Can we try to follow that old adage our elders taught us that if we don't have something nice to say, we don't say it? Will you attempt to exude positiveness this week online? Try it: one week with ZERO complaints. NO bashing someone or their opinions. Try posting only compliments and jokes and things that make you smile.
Then after you conquered it this week. Try another week. Then another.
Maybe someday the internet will be safer... or at least more fun and less judgmental. I'll do my part. I hope you'll do yours.
Next week will be easy for me...no internet on my cruise. :)
For now, it's time to dream about umbrella drinks and swimming in clear blue water. And a happy, silly internet world.
XO
SKate
*Names have NOT been changed because there was nothing innocent about that guy! Muwhahaha!
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