Optimism and Internet Dependency

My last post was far too optimistic...almost a week later and today is actually the first day I've been able to do any real work on the rewrite. I'm still stuffy and uncomfortable, but I'm functioning at close to full capacity. My new deadline to finish the rewrite is February 10th. Nice to have a deadline that I set myself.

The other day, during a winter storm, our power was interrupted briefly, and after that we discovered that our internet connection was out. I was amazed to realize how profoundly this hit me. I don't think of myself as terribly internet-dependent, for all my blogs and websites and net savvy. But I felt bereft and cut off when the connection was out. What emails was I missing? What news of my friends? What group conversations?

When the company told us it could be as long as three days before the connection was restored, I felt even worse. I began mentally planning who I should contact from some other connection to let them know why I would be absent for a few days. Which was silly, since I hadn't worried about being out of touch while I was sick. But this was somehow different!

My husband was in a worse state than I was, because it would mean an enforced absence from World of Warcraft. :-)

As it turned out, the connection was restored by that night, and we survived just fine. But it made me question how healthy this dependency is. It's not that I spend enormous amounts of time on the internet, but I realize that I really rely on the feeling of connectedness I have with it. Is this a good thing or not? I really don't know. But I have have a feeling it's not going to change anytime soon.