Doing More Hard Things: Episode 77

I'm a week away from a month-long sabbatical. During that month I'm going to fly to Tennessee, finish planning my wedding, get married, honeymoon, move into a new apartment (which I've never seen), move to a new town (where I've never spent more than a day), and hopefully unplug a little.

Brian and I have vowed to not take our laptops on our honeymoon and to only check our voicemail twice at pre-appointed times (just in case there's an emergency). I can't wait! I love to unplug. And this may very well be the only time in my life where people will understand when I don't return their calls, reply to their e-mails, or publish their comments ;)

Unplugging -- 00:00
So you can imagine how excited I was when Motte told me that we were talking about using technology on vacation for this week's roundtable. Lisa, Steve, Motte and I wrestle with controlling our technology rather than letting it control us. To what extent is technology helpful on vacation? When does it rob our experience of rest and fellowship?

Doing More Hard Things -- 19:05
Lisa sits down with Brett and Alex to get an update on their lives. A lot has happened since they were in the studio last. They just finished their first year at Patrick Henry College, The Rebelution is still going strong, and one of them (listen to find out which) has an announcement similar to Suzanne's. Our conversation with Alex and Brett was a lot of fun and, uh, timely, as you can see in the video below.

What if Dad Says Wait?
He sees their relationship moving toward marriage -- and soon. But her dad sees things a little differently. "There's plenty of time. No need to rush things," he says. What do you do when her parents are on a different time-line? Steve weighs in for this week's inbox.

Comments

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1. Matt said the following at 5:38 PM on Jul 9:

I actually know his fiancee and she's pretty cool.

http://www.therebelution.com/blog/2009/06/alex-and-courtney/

2. Rebekah in SoCal said the following at 6:33 PM on Jul 9:

C.S. Lewis talked about the horrors of "living at the mercy of the telephone" and I quite agree. It's fun to hear that I'm not the only one trying to resist being ruled by my cell phone.

3. Sheila said the following at 9:49 PM on Jul 9:

I laughed when you were talking about the "younger generation" checking their iPhone on vacation and family reunions. I recently went with my parents on both and my dad asked to borrow my iPhone about once an hour just to "check on something". I think he's officially addicted as well and I wouldn't be surprised if he was the proud owner of an iPhone soon! I love technology!

4. Sarah P. said the following at 8:07 AM on Jul 10:

Oh look, it's Brett and Alex! hehe. They must be having an interesting summer.

Thanks for the link to Patrick Henry College. I'll be checkin' Google Analytics on this end to see how many people follow it. ;)

5. Josh M said the following at 12:05 PM on Jul 10:

I think this image describes well why not to take my laptop on vacation.

I consciously chose to stop wearing a wristwatch a little over a year ago. Not because my phone was replacing it, but in order to encourage myself to focus on where I am and not on "what's next".

Lisa, why does it annoy you when people get on the phone as soon as they get in the car if they are alone? Do you drive without distraction (i.e. radio off) when you are alone?

6. Ashley Harris said the following at 12:51 PM on Jul 10:

Lisa,

I too disagree with your not-talking-while-driving thing. I make most of my catch-up phone calls in the 15 minute commute to and from work. It's not that I don't want to be alone or think. I just want to be able to relax and eat when I get home from work rather than have the phone to my ear.

I would have interjected this during the podcast but I sensed we were running a little long :)

7. Heidi said the following at 1:09 PM on Jul 10:

In my state it is against the law to drive while talking on a cell phone unless you are using a hands-free method (and holding the phone with your shoulder does not count).

8. Julie said the following at 4:47 PM on Jul 10:

My state too recently made cell phone while driving illegal unless using a headset, which for me is kind of a hassle to hook into my ear and my phone, so I've effectively quit using my cell phone in my car. I haven't had a radio for a few years, so I was already a fan of taking some peace and quiet while in the car. But I do miss being able to make catch-up "errands" phone calls in the car as Ashley describes, and chattering with my girlfriends when I hit a bad traffic day.

9. Dei said the following at 1:34 AM on Jul 12:

This episode was SO helpful! Like the guy who was concerned about his girlfriend's parents, I'm dealing with the same thing-my parents too, are concerned about my boyfriend and I talking about marriage-we've been in a relationship for three years, and we're a bit older-I'm 23, he's 27...and they think we won't be ready for marriage in a year...the advice given was SO helpful, I'll def have to let my boyfriend hear it!

10. Sarah P. said the following at 7:35 AM on Jul 13:

We had about 120 visitors, thanks to the boundlessline.org link, fyi. :)