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Our Daily Lives
Thirty years ago the internet was in its infancy—only available to those with high-security clearance. We relied on newspapers, television, and word of mouth to consume media. While the internet has given us a measure of comfortability and convenience, there is something to be said about information being too readily available—we have the world in our pocket, after all. Therefore, it’s important to take a moment to breathe and to connect with those who mean the most to us. At Peck, we do this through Kairos, a homework-free night set aside purposely three times a year. It provides us with an opportunity to move away from our screens and move towards connection with our friends and families.
“We are constantly being inundated by all of these different stimuli,” said Lower School Psychologist Ashley Tabor. “There have been countless studies on how bright, vivid, and fast-moving stimuli affect early childhood development. It affects mood stabilization and attention span.” Creating your sanctuary away from the noise gives you the room to take a breath.
Breathe In... Breathe Out...
It’s important for us to take a moment and reflect. To breathe. Our worlds are moving so quickly and as a result, it’s easy for little things to get lost. With work, school, homework, extracurriculars, and all other types of responsibilities,—we can forget that moments of peace, silence, and reflection are crucial to maintaining and bolstering one's mental health.
“Kairos is an opportunity to slow down,” Tabor notes. “Unfortunately, I think we live in a world that is so fast-paced, that we don’t have the opportunity to sit down as a family and take a breath.”
Let’s take a moment to think about this concept. Here are three ways you can reflect and reconnect in the spirit of Kairos the other 362 days of the year:
Ways We Can Disconnect to Reconnect
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Schedule Your Offline Time
- Kairos works well because it's a time that has been intentionally scheduled for us. But, not all of us have the luxury of time to take moments and reflect—and sometimes we get lost in all the noise. Setting an alarm on your phone for even just 5-10 minutes of offline time is enough to begin. “I think it’s so important that we have a reminder on our calendar to take a break and reconnect with those around us, and also reconnect with ourselves,” says Tabor.
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Do Something You Love, With the People You Love
- It’s important to do things associated with joy, rather than striking a task off the list. These activities can range from anything, such as sitting down and meditating for five minutes, or losing yourself in a good book. “Genuinely enjoying the experience of sitting down with your child at the end of the day and reading a story, with nowhere to go and not looking at the time,” says Tabor.
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Give Back To Your Community
- Sometimes, the best thing you can do for yourself and your mental health is to give something to someone else. Whether this is in the form of volunteering for a local nonprofit, helping a friend when they’re going through something tough, or even just spending time with one another working towards something great—these all help you connect with others, without being dependent on a screen. As Tabor has said, “Connection is the number one defense for mental health.”
