Why did I want to go off the grid?
Deep inside, there was this inclination that suffering through something no one else would dare do would in itself make me better than those around me. When friends and family would give me strange looks, that would only fuel my desire to follow the project through. On a more practical note, I felt that I would be able to unlock my true potential by ridding myself of the biggest distractor in my life.
How long did I go?
My first stint was from March to September of 2019, and my second stint was from June to December of 2020.
Why did I give up?
The first time, I had my desk set up in the living room, which was fine except for the constant noise from the kitchen and the front door; needless to say, I was eager to relocate. Luckily, a tenant had just moved out of the master bedroom, which the tenant living in the garage had called first dibs on. That reshuffle left a large, fully furnished living space for me to move in to without worrying about taking rentable space away from my mother. The biggest priority I had at the time was improving my Japanese study habits, and I saw huge potential in creating the optimal study corner secluded from the hustle and bustle of the house. Now that I would (in my mind, at least) have a solid study habit in place, I needed constant immersion to keep up with my active study, and going to my corner every day had become a chore with no way to find and download what I needed in the given time. Because I would be studying so effectively, I convinced myself that reintroducing the internet back into my living space would cause more good than harm, so I asked for the wi-fi password and an era came to an end.
The second time, I had moved into an apartment with a friend and after a few cheat days of getting unpacked, I asked her to change the password so I could continue the glory days. Confused, she obliged and there I was.
How did I pull this off logistically?
Putting myself in that zen spot of the internet not even crossing my mind proved to be very difficult, and I never quite got to what I imagined - living in the 90’s. The biggest obstacle was my cell phone. I didn’t know of any provider that allowed you to opt out of data access.