*I have temporarily deleted and stopped my podcast, I may resume it in the near or distant future, and if I do, I’ll make a new post about it, but the content of this post still remains relevant*

So, firstly, I’m sorry for the random hiatus. I was going through some stuff and needed to take my website out of the public eye for a month or so, but I am back now!

I know I said the my next post would be my documentation from when I went to Australia and I promise its coming for those who are interested. I just wanted to make a quick post here to say that I am okay, I made it there and back safely and right now I am focusing on me.

But, I have recent made my first podcast episode! It is called Fone-Free-Fridays, and, I explain all about it on the podcast, but for those that are interested in the concept but dont have 40 minutes to waste listening to me, it is something I am challenging myself to do, and I am using my podcast platform to document it.

I always wanted to make a podcast, but couldn’t for the life of me think of anything to make a podcast about. The only thing I’m really passionate about is minimalism, but even in saying that, no matter how passionate I am, I really dont think I could have come up with anything to talk about on my podcast in regards to minimalism directly, while having a whole website dedicated to it.

I just knew I wanted it to be something closely related to minimalism, something that would give me a need to make a weekly podcast about, something to document without the use of a camera etc. I wanted it to be meaningful to me.

Meanwhile, the news was consistently going on about the possibility of a daily blackout in England for so many hours each evening in January and February, and my first thought wasn’t “oh no what do I do with all my food in the freezer?!” But instead “WHAT AM I GOING TO DO WITH MYSELF?!?” And that thought of mine right there, that initial moment of panic, scared me more than I ever thought it would.

I realised in that moment, I was obsessed with technology, the internet, the lot. More scarily, I realised I was addicted to it. And that couldn’t possibly be healthy. I am the type of personal that has probably relied on technology, specifically my phone, more then I ever though have, for probably way longer than I should have, and the thought of even being in a different room to my iPhone scares me.

But like with everything else I do, if something scares me, it makes me want to do it even more! So, after a lot of thinking, I came up with the term “Fone-Free-Fridays”, where from 9am Friday morning, until 9am Saturday morning, I will be totally tech-free. This includes smartphones, tablets, smart watches, TVs, game consoles or anything of the sort.

I have purchased a Nokia-like phone for £20 with a pay-as-you-go SIM card on it, with a number I will give to people for them to get in touch with me on on Fridays, and I’ll save important numbers into this phone. I had a somewhat of a eureka moment when I thought of all of this… It seems like such the perfect thing to dedicate my podcast to. Sure I won’t be able to make the podcast on Friday, but I plan on keeping a written diary every Friday, which will entail my thoughts and feeling about each Friday, which I will make an episode based on, every Saturday.

I don’t really know what to expect from this, but I know it will be good for my mental health, even if I don’t think it will be at first. As I know, or at least… expect… it to be one of the hardest challenges I have done so far, but I know with challenge ad fear comes growth, and I want to grow as a person and I want to banish my addiction to my phone, it is something that would be so meaningful to me.

Anyone in my life would vouch for the fact I hate them staring at their phones all the time, it is not only unhealthy for them, but it doesn’t allow them to be present in the moment of mindful at all, which is something I have always been so passionate about. I am hoping by doing this I can set an example for the people around me that would find some kind of meaning from this, even if it is just for one day out of the week.

This is the phone I have bought, in the picture above, it had good reviews and seems basic enough but not too much of a dinosaur. I didn’t want anything that could be classed as a smart phone… nothing that plays games or displays instagram, but instead, something that my dad calls a “hello-goodbye” phone, as the only real use for it is phone calls or the occasional text message.

At the end of this blog post, I will link in the most recent episode to my podcast which is already live! If I stick to the challenge, I will do my best to get it posted to more podcast sites, such as Apple Music etc. Please take some time out of your day to give it a listen, even if it’s just a few minutes if you don’t have time for the whole 40, it would mean so much to me!

If you resonate with it, please be kind enough to press the follow button to follow along with my challenge, I know it will be hard but I hope after a while, it will become easy to me, just like with everything else I have managed to accomplish this year!

I promise to have my Australia Travel Blog up soon, I am working super hard on it to make it as perfect as I can, there is a lot of days to cover and a lot of photos to add, but until then, have a wonderful winter, stay safe, and happy listening!

EDIT: *I have changed the name of my podcast but the overall theme still stands*