To Connect or Not to Connect - That is the Question...

Not sure if any of you deal with this dilemma like I do, but when I travel I want to relax and live completely in the moment...and yet I work, I hustle, and I try to stay on top of everything connected with the show. I tell myself I'll relax and embrace the moments when I'm without wifi, and yet on the inside I'm panicking and wondering what amazingness I'm missing online. To really prove this point...I'm writing this blog from 30,000 feet because I have learned the beauty of airplane wifi! It's becoming a bit of a problem.

So here is my question for ya'll. How do we learn to live in the moments in front of us when there's a glowing screen to look at and emails that must be answered. I tell myself that I don't need to respond to each email 30 seconds after I receive it and yet I want to be accessible at all times. I have serious FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) when it comes to the internet.

I tell myself that it's my job to be connected and constantly present online; and it is to a certain point. I try to embrace apps like Hootsuite that schedule social media posts and yet I'm constantly refreshing the page to see what other people are up to.

When it comes to the outdoors I'm a little bit better. I can truly appreciate going for an all day hike and catching up on what I've missed at night but by day 3 of an all out camping, mountains, no wifi kind of trip I'm feeling that panicky feeling that I may have missed the most important email of my life (I never do, I usually log back on to be disappointed with 5,000 spam emails).

On my recent trip to visit my in-laws I promised myself airplane mode every day and no social media...and yet the second anyone else pulled their phones out I joined in on the screen gazing. And by the end of the trip I had a sense of guilt for not responding to emails for 5 days. I gave myself a break one day to call my mom and 2 1/2 hours of chatting later and some bad time-zone skills and I'd missed my OWN Twitter Chat! I felt horrible and guilty for having taken a break.

So how do we balance it all! How in a world of immediate responses and permeant connectedness do we stop and breathe and live in the moment without the inner panic! So while I can truly appreciate the opportunities to stay online all the time (in-air wifi, mobile hotspots, roaming, even international apps) sometimes I wonder, when is it truly time to unplug?How do you do it? Leave me a comment below. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this dilemma.