Hold Your Head Up

Welcome to the 113th edition of “In Touch”. As always, I would love to continue the conversation so please hit reply and let me know what you think.

Story of the Week: “Hold Your Head Up"

A few days ago, my son Rolando crossed a red line. We had a conversation about his actions and, as a consequence, his mother and I took his phone away for three days.

At first, I felt as if I was watching someone go through withdrawal symptoms. His hand would instinctively reach for a device that wasn’t there. He even came into my bedroom and asked me, “What am I supposed to do without a phone?”

He eventually figured it out. And the first indication was a simple change: instead of sitting hunched over his phone for hours on end, he looked up and he looked around.

Soon he had dismantled and cleaned his PlayStation, turning our living room into an amateur mechanic’s workshop. Later, he picked up a book and began to read. I watched as he re-entered a world that many of us left behind long ago, perhaps without even realizing what we had lost – a world free from constant scrolling.

And that’s when it hit me. We spend hours looking at the world – bent over small screens, going through posts and updates of other peoples' lives – but we rarely raise our heads to observe our own surroundings.

Without even trying, Rolando taught me that sometimes, we need to disconnect in order to reconnect – with our thoughts, our goals and the people around us. Today is my birthday – I’m now 53 – and later, when I’ve blown out those candles, I will hold my head up and gaze, not towards any screen but in the direction of what I want to become, where dreams of the future are created. I’ll look around and see what matters most in my life: my wife Christine, my three children – Hector, Marianda and Rolando (thank you for the lesson, son!) – and my mother. And I’ll feel immense happiness.

Life often works in very mysterious ways. This week, one of the consequences of a young boy’s foolish misbehaviour became a father’s birthday gift and a silent call to action: Hold your head up and look around.

Words of Wisdom

“There are currently 3.5 billion smartphone users in the world. Pretty much every one of those phones does something for its owner that they used to do for themselves.” Thatcher Wine

A Question to Ponder, dear friend.

Have you ever tried to go without your smartphone for even one day? Tell us about the experience!