When the World in My Phone Felt More Real Than My Own
A few years ago, I found myself sitting in a coffee shop in downtown Boise, staring at my iced coffee that had melted into something sad and lukewarm. I had picked up my phone for what I told myself would be a quick check on Instagram. Thirty minutes later, I was still there, scrolling past people’s vacation photos, recipes I would never make, and endless videos I could not even remember five minutes later.
The sun was pouring through the windows, but I could not tell you what the sky looked like that day. I was too busy living through other people’s moments.
When I finally put my phone down, it hit me like a quiet wave of realization. My days were full, but I could not remember the last time I had actually felt one.
That moment became a wake-up call. I realized I had been living in a two-dimensional world that was not mine. Every scroll was filling my brain but emptying my attention. I was consuming more and experiencing less.
So I made a small promise to myself that day. To start choosing the real world again. The one where the coffee tastes good, the sunlight shifts across the floor, and my mind has space to breathe.
What it means to live with intention
Intentional living is not about having your life perfectly organized. It is not about color-coded planners or strict routines. It is about paying attention to what actually matters to you and noticing how much time and energy you spend on things that do not.
When you live intentionally, you start asking different questions.
Does this make me feel calm or drained?
Do I actually want to do this, or am I doing it because I think I should?
Is this moment one I will remember, or one I will scroll past?
You start to see where your focus goes, and you realize how much of your life happens in the quiet moments between all the noise.
The myth of more
We have been told that more is always better. More productivity. More success. More goals to chase. But the truth is, “more” can easily become the thing that keeps us from what really matters.
When you stop chasing more, you make room for better.
Better connection.
Better rest.
Better presence.
You start to value depth over speed. You begin to see that the moments that fill you up rarely look perfect, but they feel honest. They feel real.
Choosing the real world again
Since that day in the coffee shop, I have been trying to choose the real world more often. The one that smells like freshly brewed coffee, sounds like a baby’s giggle, and feels a little bit messy and wonderful all at once.
I have learned to set my phone down and look up. To listen longer. To sit in silence without needing to fill it. To let a moment simply be instead of documenting it.
It is not always easy. Some days I still get pulled into the scroll, or I catch myself measuring my worth by how much I have done (or how many likes my last post got). But the difference now is awareness. When I start to drift, I know how to come back.
And that is what living intentionally really is. It is not perfection. It is returning again and again to what is real.
How to begin
You do not have to change everything overnight. Start small.
Put your phone down for one meal.
Take a walk without headphones.
Ask yourself what feels good, not just what looks good.
Do one thing today that connects you back to yourself.
That is how you start to live with intention. By noticing. By choosing. By saying yes to your own life instead of watching someone else’s.
Because the truth is, the world in your phone will always keep spinning. But the world that is yours, the one right in front of you, is waiting for you to notice it.
You do not have to leave the country or plan the perfect trip to start living more intentionally. Sometimes saying yes begins right where you are.
✨ Subscribe for updates and get stories, reflections, and gentle reminders to say yes to the real world again, one slow, intentional moment at a time.
