Ditching My Smart Watch

There’s something about the fresh start of a new homeschool year that jumpstarts New Year resolution-y energy in me. Among other resolutions, I decided to go back to analog and ditch my smart watch.

My smart watch never felt like me. I never took the time to figure out all of the ways the watch worked, and I found it to be more of a distraction than a helpful tool. Other than seeing what time it was and how much exercise I was/wasn’t getting, the watch distracted me with the buzzing every time I received a text or had a security camera alert. I never bothered figuring out how to get rid of the alerts I didn’t want. Also, the traditionalist in me never liked the way I felt in a smart watch. It felt clunky and wasn’t my style.

Philip gave me a beautiful silver watch for our 1-year wedding anniversary. I first retired the watch 10 years ago when it stopped fitting during pregnancy #4. I started wearing a smart watch shortly thereafter, and I assumed I’d never wear the watch again. It’s been sitting in my jewelry drawer for several years collecting dust.

I started intermittent fasting back in March. 5 months later, I’m still loving it, and I’m enjoying all of the scale and non-scale victories. Among the non-scale victories, my beautiful analog watch fits again! In fact, it was too big! I found a local clock shop that could remove a link and install a new battery. I got it back last week, and I feel like a newly engaged gal constantly admiring her rock. I’m always looking at my purty wrist! Isn’t Pearl purty? Yes, since my watch has a mother of pearl face, I named her Pearl. Here she is in all her glory on the coffee shop table.

How adorable is City Clock?

When was the last time you went to a shop in person that was dedicated to 1 thing? Specialization feels like it’s going extinct, and I wonder how much longer shops like this are for this world of generalists.

I wandered around the shop, eyeing all of the new and antique beautiful clocks. Philip doesn’t know it yet, but I’ve got my eye on a beautiful grandfather clock for our entryway…. Creating my Rule of Life over our summer vacation got me thinking more and more about time, and I love the idea of hearing the 15-minute chimes as a recall.

Come back.

Come back.

Come back.

Come back to whatever God has before me.

The trip to City Clock and returning to my analog watch has me waxing poetic about the value of time. My smart watch with all of its bells, whistles, and endless data made me less aware of my time. As with most smart devices, I pick it up with one purpose in mind, and I find myself fiddling with it much longer than intended without having done the thing I picked it up for in the first place!

I’m generally allergic to one-trick pony tools in the kitchen. Why collect all of those things that just perform one job and take up valuable real estate in kitchen drawers? I’d much rather use the side of a chef’s knife to smash garlic than a garlic press. Not so with my watch. Give me analog all the livelong day! Just tell me the time, thankyouverymuch. That’s all I need.

You know what’s great about the analog watch? Everything.

But, really, you want to know what’s great about it?

It tells me the time, and then it goes on with doing its job while I get back to doing mine.

It’s so much prettier than my clunky digital watch. I regularly find myself looking at it. I mean, really, have you ever taken the time to appreciate all of the intricacies involved in an analog watch? As with most of my interests, I suppose reading about Corrie ten Boom’s family’s watch shop and When Time Stopped: A Memoir of My Father’s War and What Remains by Ariana Neumann made me appreciate the craft behind making a functional watch. It’s an art!

Have you ever seen the show The Repair Shop? I got into it while I was newly pregnant (translation: very sick) with Helen. The description from Discovery sums it up best: “Nestled deep in the British countryside lies a workshop where broken, battered and beloved artifacts, antiques and curios are brought back to life at THE REPAIR SHOP.” Here’s a clip from an episode about a grandfather clock. That show epitomizes what I love about clocks: they’re gorgeous, functional pieces of art.

It’s getting easier and easier to be present. I can think of several reasons why:

• Ditching social media last year.

• Putting restrictions about when and how I access the news.

• Making myself unavailable via phone/text while teaching. I’m working. Period.

• Not multitasking while teaching the kids. I’m giving myself permission to just teach. When was the last time you just did 1 thing with your time? You might feel fidgety at first. Stick with it until you feel the bliss of the freedom of presence.

• Switching to an analog watch to give me the time without any other distractions.

• Not having our homeschool co-op’s app (Basecamp) on my phone and only checking it on my laptop.

• Getting enough sleep. Rested Catherine is better at resisting temptations including escaping into a screen for a dopamine hit.

• Beginning intermittent fasting got rid of my brain fog while boosting my energy and metabolism.

Time. It’s my most important non-renewable resource. I regret how much of it I wasted in the past, and I’m trying to steward it better going forward. I hope you’ll find something in this post that helps you to reconsider how you’re stewarding your time. What’s helping you to remain present these days? I’d love to hear your thoughts!