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I used to get this feeling at music festivals (just alcohol, if you're wondering). It's never quite been the same since I got a cell phone. It was very freeing to walk into the crowd and know that I was completely detached from everything except what was immediately around me.



I was actually going to post that this is exactly the feeling I get from going to music festivals - part of it is definitely the fact that you're cut off from the internet (at least in parisian music festivals, the network never works), but a big part of it is that for a few days you completely change routine. Note that I think that to get this experience you need to replace your daily life with something that installs a different routine, not just a void.

So, for music festivals, the routine becomes - choose which band you want to listen to, find a good spot in the crowd, relax in the sun, maybe drink a beer. A bit later on repeat for the next band. A bit later on try to find something to eat. You'll go through this routine many many times at a festival, enough that it becomes the new normal.

I regularly do trips to the US to visit Civil War battlefields. You get the same sort of experience. Get in the car, drive to your motel near the battlefield. Check in. Go to the national park, do the exhibitions at the Visitor Centre. Later, visit some of the key battle sites. Come back, find a restaurant. The next day come back, but this time go far a trail hike rather than worrying about the battlefield stuff. Back to hotel, find a restaurant. Next day, get in the car, drive to the next battle site.

The imprtant thing is the routine, specifically I seem to need to go through a cycle 5 - 10 times to get that sense of disconnect from the real world.




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