I just read a great book called “Das Glück der Unerreichbarkeit”, which – roughly translated – means the happiness of being unavailable. It’s about the pressure of always being available for communication because of the new communication technologies like e-mail, cell phones, smartphones and the like, and how hard it is for us to deal with the overflow of information we are provided with by means of those technologies. It pointed out to me again how important it is to be “offline” from time to time, to not react to every request for communication. We sometimes need time and space to be able to fully concentrate on certain aspects of our life that are important to us, either other people like friends, families and especially our “significant other”, or ourselves, our own life and how we live it.

When I was away on vacation, I forgot to turn off my cell phone. I received two text messages from work. One message annoyed me and made me very angry, and one made me go back to work after my vacation was over even though I was sick and should have seen a doctor right away. If I had just turned my cell phone off, I’d probably feel fine now. It’s an important lesson I have learned.