“Whenever I’m feeling inadequate or overwhelmed, I love being able to lean on You, Lord. You remind me that I am more than adequate when I rely on You to strengthen me.”
– Jesus Listens,June 25th
Over the last three years, I’ve steadily built a discipline of powering down my devices and embracing what I like to call “the art of unplugging.”
What began as a simple nudge to turn off my phone during one of my quiet times has morphed into a daily discipline of turning away from the digital noise and pressing into the moment right in front of me.
If you’re feeling burnt out by the digital hamster wheel and craving more presence in your daily life, I pray these tips for unplugging will meet you right where you are today.
START SMALL
It’s easy to take on an all-or-nothing mentality when unplugging. You delete all forms of social media, but then find yourself re-downloading them a few days later. When cultivating daily disciplines, the all-or-nothing approach rarely works. The better approach is to start small—like, painfully small.
If you never turn off your phone and always reach for it, what would it be like to start by setting a timer for just 15 minutes of having it out of your reach? If you check emails at all hours of the day, would it be possible to disable email access on your phone or use an app blocker?
Instead of overhauling, pick a small solution to what’s currently not working right now and go from there. It could be one unplugged hour at the end of the evening where you feed your soul with a good book rather than scrolling. Perhaps it’s a new boundary of “no phone during quiet time” so you can press in and hear what God has for you.
Small changes sometimes feel insignificant, but often lead to the most sustainable results.
FOLLOW MORE CLOSELY
One of the areas of my life that changed dramatically through unplugging was my morning time with Jesus. As I pushed out the noise and pressed into the scriptures, I moved closer to Jesus’s life—the rhythms and routines He embodied when He walked this earth. If the call has always been to “follow Jesus,” then I was determined to follow Him more closely, one unplugged hour at a time.
I started to study His patterns, habits, and way of communicating with others. I watched Him curiously—line by line—throughout the gospels, taking many notes. One of those rhythms was Jesus’s willingness to escape from the crowds into lonely places. In the scriptures, the word for the lonely places often translates into modern texts as the “wilderness.” There, He would pray, commune with God, and refuel for the next miracle or mission ahead. He would often remind His disciples to do the same.
What I think is really beautiful about Jesus’s ministry is that it was, in a way, born out of the wilderness. After He’d been baptized and tucked Himself away for forty days and forty nights of testing, He exited the wilderness with one thing: the power of the Spirit. That power would be the catalyst for His three-year, pedal-to-the-metal ministry ahead.
If Jesus needed the secret place to move on this earth, how much more do we need that rhythm in our lives? If Jesus tucked Himself away to pray and be alone with the Father, why are we so resistant to make space for that same thing?
The more I’ve pressed into the secret place—daring to meet with God at uncommon hours in the day rather than scrolling—the more refreshed, fueled, patient, and at peace I’ve become.
WELCOME THE DISCOMFORT
When I first started turning off my phone, it was uncomfortable. It’s still uncomfortable—even thousands of unplugged hours later. I didn’t know what to do with myself. I’d gotten so used to always being “busy” or “on” that taking a break and not having something to stimulate me felt wrong.
The mindset I had to learn to embrace as I powered down was that the discomfort and the resistance weren’t bad things. I would feel them, sure, but they were leading me to a better place—a stillness that was for my good and my benefit.
Sometimes we don’t move forward because we’re waiting for the roadblock of discomfort or difficulty to move. But what if the roadblock is the way? It’s possible that at the fringes of your comfort zone, a lot of the good stuff—the deep work—will take place.
The more I embrace the discomfort and get into the stillness to meet with God, the more I find deep rest for my soul. I craved this rest for a very long time, but I only found it when I powered down and decided to press in.
About The Author
Hannah Brencher is a writer, TED speaker, and entrepreneur. She founded The World Needs More Love Letters, a global community dedicated to sending letter bundles to those who need encouragement. Named as one of the White House’s “Women Working to Do Good,” Hannah has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Oprah, Glamour, USATODAY.com, the Chicago Tribune, and more. She lives in Atlanta with her husband, Lane, and daughter Novalee. Hannah’s new book, The Unplugged Hours, releases September 2024.
