So perhaps I’m being a bit dramatic when I say I don’t think I can survive.  I mean it’s not like I’m on life support and someone is about to pull the plug or anything.  WAIT…that’s EXACTLY what it’s like!  I don’t believe my life can be sustained unplugged.  I’m like Darth Vader.  Too much of my body and brain have already assimilated.

In the past 8 years, I can honestly say that I have not gone 24 complete hours without at least posting a photo to Instagram or replying to a tweet, a text or email somewhere. I am more than just connected.  I am hyper-connected.  My beautiful Galaxy S4 is never more than an arm’s reach away, and if it were still in style to wear holsters, I would totally have a gun in one holster and my phone in the other!  Either one can shoot something I see in a split second and with the Galaxy S4 I can just say CHEESE as the camera is front-facing and it will snap a selfie (you know those goofy pics with your camera at arms reach) of me firing a shot at a tin can!  That is one of my favorite features of this phone.  (check it out)

I usually have an iPad in my purse…just in case, and I stay in touch with my husband, the Captain, and my four kids via Facebook messages, Instagram pics or comments as well as fun emoji-filled texts every day.  I gave up seeking perfect balance years ago when I realized I didn’t want a perfectly balanced life.  I wanted to be wildly UNbalanced in whatever area I was focused on at the moment.  When my kids were little, I spent my share of afternoons at parks, or gyms with basketball, baseball, and soccer games.  When I started my business I traveled a ton, and now I live a 24/7 connected life. Whether on  Twitter, Instagram, Google+ Hangouts and any other new app or gadget that we play with to see which one’s make sense for our clients.  I love it.

If I am watching television, I have my iPad on my lap. I read or listen to books on my devices, listen to Rosetta Stone teach me Spanish through my LG Bluetooth stereo headset (another of my favorite devices) and use apps for just about everything! I take notes in Evernote, draw and doodle on Paper, pay for parking using Pay By Phone, pay for my Starbucks coffee with My Coffee Card and track my hikes and runs using Map My Walk, just to name a few.

BUT, in a month, the Captain and I will take off for Tanzania, Africa to climb Kilimanjaro.  This was MY idea.  I imagined climbing the 19, 341 feet and live tweeting the entire trip, or at least snapping pics and posting them to Instagram and Facebook along the way.  Of course, I wasn’t thinking that there are no charging stations or cell towers along the route–although that would be a fabulous idea, should the wonderful people at Verizon feel inclined to do that in the next few weeks.  15 days with NO CONNECTIVITY……I’m getting the shakes already!

You know when you lose power in your house and you still get up to make popcorn in the microwave, or you flip the switch up in every room you walk into?  That is what I am going through right now.  Denial!  They can’t possibly have NO connectivity.  I mean how do they live?  I thought more people had access to mobile devices than to toothbrushes in the world.  Okay so perhaps I do need to unplug.  Maybe it will be good for me…a type of digital detox.  Mobile Rehab!   Maybe Lindsay Lohan and I could go together!

So as I continue to prepare physically for the 6-day trek and 14 days of complete disconnectedness, I need your help.  I know it’s going to have to be cold turkey, like committing to give up chocolate for two weeks…..Oh God….I can’t do this!

Okay, okay.  I need your serious suggestions as to what I need to think through before I unplug and head out.  I mean I know my team can handle all of our client interactions and that I need to craft an away message on my email auto-responder, but what else do I need to consider?  What can I do to mentally prepare?  Are there any tricks to keep a camera battery alive for as long as possible or what tips do you have to learn to write with a pen and paper again?  Leave your suggestions in the comments area here.

The wonderful people at Verizon may not be building a cell tower this month in Tanzania, but they did give me a Mophie Juice Pack Powerstation to give away to someone (I obviously cannot use it up there). ( The Mophie Juice Pack Powerstation retails at $79 but staying juiced up and connected is PRICELESS).

To enter, leave a helpful (or witty–I need all the humor I can get right now) comment and be sure to SHARE the post on your favorite social network.  Our team will place everyone’s name, who submits an idea here in the comments, into our Randomizer Lite app by Kwixo Designs and it will randomly select a winner on July 15th.  That person will win the Mophie and I will get lots of ideas to help me deal with my Digital Detox!

@GinaSchreck

My “Wired Self” blogs at SocialKNX